Rand Paul Abortion Bill: Life At Conception Act Would Outlaw Abortion

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been become a key player these days in helping the GOP appeal to the millennials. And so far, between his 13-hour filibuster, his speech at CPAC which won him the conservative straw poll, and his PolicyMic op-ed, he’s been fairly successful.

However, Paul may just have alienated a large chunk of the millennial base he has been trying to reach out to with his latest “fetal personhood” legislation, the Life at Conception Act, which would fully outlaw abortion in the United States.

Paul has been gaining momentum through his pledge to ensure liberty for all, in every way. In fact, in his speech this weekend at CPAC, Paul indicated that “The new GOP, the GOP that will win again, will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and personal sphere.”

However, the Life at Conception Act doesn’t embrace liberty in the personal sphere for women — instead, it takes their choice away from them and demonstrates that while Paul may be talking a good game, his actions contradict what he says.

According to a press release from the Senator, the legislation he is introducing would declare that human life begins at conception and therefore would provide fertilized eggs the same legal status as a born person, as guaranteed by the 14th amendment.

In a statement, Paul said that “the Life at Conception Act legislatively declares what most Americans believe and what science has long known- that human life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore is entitled to legal protection from that point forward.”

However, while Paul isn’t incorrect in asserting that most Americans are pro-life, they are only so by a slight margin and the trend seems to flip-flop on a yearly basis.  More importantly, the demographic that Paul and his other GOP colleagues are trying to appeal to, millennials, certainly don’t overwhelmingly believe that human life begins at the moment of conception. In fact, although millennials’ stance on the morality of abortion is pretty equally divided, six in 10 millennials believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Moreover, not only does Paul believe that abortion should be completely illegal and that the practice is “taking the life of an innocent human being,” he also will stop  the “flow of tax dollars to groups like Planned Parenthood, who perform or advocate abortions,” according to his official U.S. Senate website.

I don’t exactly see either one of these things sitting well with the majority of millennials — especially not young women whose individual rights and liberties are being affected the most.

For all of his talk about reducing the size of government and granting freedom of choice and liberty to all as is guaranteed to us in the constitution, Paul’s words are clearly at odds with his actions. Legislation such as this is clearly propelled by Paul’s own personal convictions regarding morality and religion, and it does exactly what he has promised he wouldn’t do, and what he believes the government shouldn’t do — allows the government to interfere in an individual’s personal choice and freedom.