Heading into 2016 State Legislative Sessions, the Infants' Protection Project will be a Companion to AUL's Influential Women's Protection Project

"In this season, as many consider the beauty of the words 'Unto Us a Child is Born,' Americans United for Life is launching a new 'Infants' Protection Project' because every life can change the world and deserves a chance," said AUL's Dr. Charmaine Yoest.

Contact: Kristi Hamrick, Americans United for Life, 202-289-1478, press@aul.org

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2015 /Standard Newswire/ -- "At this time of the year, when many pause from daily struggles to reflect on the unique contributions one baby made to the world, Americans United for Life is announcing its groundbreaking 'Infants' Protection Project' to advance legal protections for the humanity of the unborn, as well as to address ongoing abortion industry abuses," said Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest. "Already, AUL is receiving requests for a legislative package to address not only the barbaric trafficking in infant body parts, revealed by the Center for Medical Progress videos, but also the inhumanity of late-term abortion procedures which cause excruciating deaths for infants and carry substantial health risks for women. During this season, when many consider the beauty of a mother and her newborn son, Americans United for Life offers this package of legislation to care for both mother and child."

Dr. Yoest continued, "AUL's unique legislative package, the Infants' Protection Project, is being released in advance of the 2016 edition of Defending Life, the pro-life playbook, which will be released nationwide in January as state legislative sessions open and the nation commemorates the tragic anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

"For more than 40 years, AUL has worked to protect unborn children and their mothers with constitutionally sound model legislation. The Infants' Protection Project builds on AUL's uniquely effective mother-child strategy that considers both victims of a greedy abortion industry that places profits over people."

AUL's unique package of laws in the Infants Protection Project includes:

1. Unborn Infants Dignity Act – prohibits experimenting on the remains of aborted infants and requires that regardless of the circumstances of their demise, every deceased unborn infant is treated with dignity and respect and that the bodies of aborted infants cannot be sold.
    
2. "Missouri Preamble" – unique measure providing the fullest legal protection to unborn children (given the U.S. Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence) and requiring that state laws be interpreted to provide such protection to the unborn.
    
3. Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act – state prohibition on partial-birth abortions which provides stronger enforcement mechanisms than the federal ban on this gruesome and unnecessary procedure.
    
4. Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act – prohibits sex-selection abortions and abortions performed for genetic abnormalities including Down syndrome.
    
5. Women's Health Defense Act – limits abortions at five months of pregnancy based on the pain experienced by unborn children (and the substantial maternal health risks of such abortions; it is also a legislative component of AUL's Women's Protection Project.)
    
6. Perinatal Hospice Information Act – informed consent enhancement requiring information about perinatal hospice and other supportive, life-affirming options for families facing lethal fetal anomalies.
    
7. Born-Alive Infant Protection Act – requires that children who survive attempted abortions be given medically appropriate care and treatment.
    
8. Unborn Wrongful Death Act – authorizes a wrongful death (civil) action when an unborn child, at any stage of development, is killed through the criminal or negligent act of a third-party.

The vast majority of Americans support limiting abortions later in pregnancy when an unborn baby will experience a horrific death. A Marist poll found that "[m]ost Americans, 84%, agree there should be significant restrictions and safe guards associated with the procedure including limits to within the first three months of pregnancy, allowed only in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, or never permitted."

"Momentum is on the side of LIFE," observed Dr. Yoest. "Since the release of the Center for Medical Progress videos, Congress has been examining Planned Parenthood's trafficking in infant body parts and the half-a-billion in tax dollars that the abortion giant receives each year, while the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of health and safety standards long championed by AUL. But there is more that we can do, and the Infants' Protection Project will equip legislators to protect the weakest among us, as we remember the birth of a special child at Christmastime."

For more information on the Infants' Protection Project, click here.

For more information on AUL's model legislation, click here.
 
Americans United for Life (AUL) is the legal architect of the pro-life movement. We are accumulating victories, building momentum, and advancing a culture of life in America. Our vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life since 1971.