The Human Life Amendment is the name for any amendment to the United States Constitution that would have the effect of overturning the Supreme Court 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, that denied states the authority to prohibit abortion. All of these amendment proposals seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, but most of them go further by forbidding both Congress and the states from legalizing abortion. Some of the proposals define human life as beginning with conception or fertilization.
These amendments are sponsored or supported by the United States pro-life movement and opposed by the United States pro-choice movement. None of these proposals have succeeded.
Read more about Human Life Amendment: History of The Human Life Amendment, 2012 Developments
Famous quotes containing the words human, life and/or amendment:
“It is his weakness to be proud: he derives, from a comparison of his own extraordinary mind with the dwarfish intellects that surround him, an intense apprehension of the nothingness of human life.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“Don’t tell me that you have exhausted Life. When a man says that, one knows that life has exhausted him.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Every family should extend First Amendment rights to all its members, but this freedom is particularly essential for our kids. Children must be able to say what they think, openly express their feelings, and ask for what they want and need if they are ever able to develop an integrated sense of self. They must be able to think their own thoughts, even if they differ from ours. They need to have the opportunity to ask us questions when they don’t understand what we mean.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)