Anti-abortion advocates have long held that granting personhood rights to fetuses and embryos would guarantee a national abortion ban. But now, some House Republicans are arguing that’s not the case.
At least nine Republicans in competitive House races have co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act at one point in their congressional careers. The bill would grant rights under the 14th Amendment from “the moment of fertilization” and has no exceptions, but it does say that a woman cannot be prosecuted “for the death of her unborn child.”
But because the bill does not have the word “abortion” in it, some Republicans are arguing it’s not actually a ban at all.