Justified: The Story of America’s Audit

The bill declares that every individual has a fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; every pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state.

The bill prohibits state and local public entities from:

• Denying, restricting, interfering with, or discriminating against an individual’s fundamental right to use or refuse contraception or to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion in the regulation or provision of benefits, services, information, or facilities; and

• Depriving, through prosecution, punishment, or other means, an individual of the individual’s right to act or refrain from acting during the individual’s own pregnancy based on the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy, the pregnancy’s outcomes, or on the pregnant individual’s health.

Bill of the Day HB22-1279, Reproductive Health Equity Act is sponsored by Democrats: Representatives Meg Froelich, Daneya Esgar, and Senator Julie Gonzales. The bill affirms a person’s right to make their own choices regarding contraception and carrying a pregnancy to term, and further states that a “fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus” has no rights independent of the aforementioned person. Pro-life adherents hew to the belief that personhood begins at conception. The bill seems designed to support the agenda of Planned Parenthood and similar organizations.