I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 586 
To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 17, 2017 
Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. CARTER of Geor-
gia, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. DUNCAN of South 
Carolina, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 
Mr. GRAVES of Georgia, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. 
LATTA, Mr. LONG, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. OLSON, Mr. ROE of Ten-
nessee, Mr. RUSSELL, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, and Mr. WOODALL) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with 
fertilization. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctity of Human 
Life Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DECLARATION. 
In the exercise of the powers of the Congress, includ-
ing Congress’ power under article I, section 8 of the Con-
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stitution, to make necessary and proper laws, and Con-
gress’ power under section 5 of the 14th article of amend-
ment to the Constitution of the United States— 
(1) the Congress declares that— 
(A) the right to life guaranteed by the 
Constitution is vested in each human being, and 
is the paramount and most fundamental right 
of a person; and 
(B) the life of each human being begins 
with fertilization, cloning, or its functional 
equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function 
or disability, defect, stage of biological develop-
ment, or condition of dependency, at which time 
every human being shall have all the legal and 
constitutional 
attributes 
and 
privileges 
of 
personhood; and 
(2) the Congress affirms that the Congress, 
each State, the District of Columbia, and all United 
States territories have the authority to protect the 
lives of all human beings residing in its respective 
jurisdictions. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) FERTILIZATION.—The term ‘‘fertilization’’ 
means the process of a human spermatozoan pene-
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trating the cell membrane of a human oocyte to cre-
ate a human zygote, a one-celled human embryo, 
which is a new unique human being. 
(2) CLONING.—The term ‘‘cloning’’ means the 
process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, that 
combines an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a so-
matic cell to make a human embryo. 
(3) 
HUMAN; 
HUMAN
BEING.—The 
terms 
‘‘human’’ and ‘‘human being’’ include each and 
every member of the species homo sapiens at all 
stages of life, beginning with the earliest stage of de-
velopment, created by the process of fertilization, 
cloning, or its functional equivalent. 
Æ 
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