A New Bill Introduced To Congress Says Life ‘Begins With Fertilization’

by Samantha Mercado January 23, 2017

Samantha Mercado January 23, 2017

There’s been plenty of talk about some of the Republican’s major pushes against women’s healthcare. With headlines pouring in about Republican’s attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pull funding from Planned Parenthood, a lot of the smaller but still important news in women’s healthcare gets drowned out by the noise.

Last Tuesday, Republican Representative Jody B. Hice of Georgia’s 10th district sponsored and introduced a bill titled H.R.586. The only information on the bill right now is that it would “provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization.” So the instant that an egg is fertilized, it would be considered a human life and therefore illegal to abort (if abortion laws head to the dystopian future Republicans are pushing for).

While the bill was introduced stealthily, it is receiving an appropriate amount of backlash on Twitter and Reddit. One Reddit user pointed out a scary question that comes along with this bill — would it also ban contraception methods that aren’t barrier methods (condoms and diaphragms)? Since forms of contraception like birth control pills and IUDs “block the development of a fertilized egg,” it’s worth pondering whether or not they would be deemed “abortifacients” and therefore banned under H.R.586. If so, millions of women would be without their primary form of contraception, and it could lead to more unwanted pregnancies.

As radical and scary as the bill seems, it has only been introduced, which is good news! This means that there is still time for you to call your representative and oppose the bill moving any further. Twitter is exploding with opposition to the bill and pleas to call your representative and voice opposition to the bill. To call your representative, click here.

You Might Be Interested In