Pro-life scholars revealed “The Lincoln Proposal” on Nov. 5 in the journal Public Discourse. The group argues that a presidential executive order could protect unborn children under the Constitution for years to come.
Joshua Craddock, former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, told Catholic News Agency that the proposal is “a bold new vision to reclaim the executive’s independent role in constitutional interpretation, based on historical precedent, to ensure that the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection are extended to preborn persons.”
Dr. Chad Pecknold (theologian at The Catholic University of America) and Catherine Glenn Foster (president of Americans United for Life) joined Craddock.
The trio says the executive branch is supposed to preserve and uphold the Constitution.
The proposal is for a president to recognize unborn children as “persons” who are “entitled to due process and equal protection of the laws” under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Though any executive order could easily be undone by the next President, Pecknold said the action would create a litmus test for future presidents.
“If an executive order were in place to protect human life in the womb, Catholics who claim to be pro-life but vote for pro-abortion presidents would have to ask themselves hard questions when their president reverses such an order,” Pecknold wrote.
You can read more about the idea at Catholic News Agency.
