tazzygirl
Posts: 37833
Joined: 10/12/2007
Status: offline
|
This is the National Bill pushed through by an all male panel.
Since the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, medical knowledge regarding the development of unborn babies and their capacities at various stages of growth has advanced dramatically. Even the New York Times has reported on the latest research on unborn pain, focusing in particular on the research of Dr. Sunny Anand, an Oxford-trained neonatal pediatrician who has held appointments at Harvard Medical School and other distinguished institutions.
According to the New York Times: Twenty-five years ago … [d]octors were convinced that newborns’ nervous systems were too immature to sense pain ... Anand resolved to find out if this was true. In a series of clinical trials, he demonstrated that operations performed under minimal or no anesthesia produced a “massive stress response” in newborn babies, releasing a flood of fight-or-flight hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Potent anesthesia, he found, could significantly reduce this reaction ... But Anand was not through with making observations. [He] noticed that even the most premature babies grimaced when pricked by a needle … New evidence, however, has persuaded him that fetuses can feel pain by 20 weeks gestation … and possibly earlier.
As Dr. Anand would later testify: “If the fetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus. And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain.”
Congress has the power to acknowledge these developments by enacting H.R. 1797 and prohibiting abortions after the point at which scientific evidence shows the unborn can feel pain, with limited exceptions.
The terrifying facts uncovered during the course of the trial of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, and successive reports of similar atrocities committed across the country, remind us how an atmosphere of insensitivity can lead to horrific brutality. The grand jury report in the Gosnell case itself contains references to a neonatal expert who reported that the cutting of the spinal cords of babies intended to be late-term aborted would cause them, and I quote, “a tremendous amount of pain.” These facts justify expanding the application of this bill nationwide, and I fully support Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Franks’ intention to do so.
Indeed, the Polling Company recently found that 64% of Americans would support a law such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Only 30% would oppose it. And supporters include 47% of those who identified themselves as “pro-choice” in the poll.
In the 2007 case of Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court made clear that -- and I quote -- “The government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman,” and that Congress may show such respect for the unborn through “specific regulation because it implicates additional ethical and moral concerns that justify a special prohibition.”
Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in the Carhart case, also wrote that the government has “an interest in forbidding medical procedures which, in the [government’s] reasonable determination, might cause the medical profession or society as a whole to become insensitive, even disdainful, to life, including life in the human fetus ... even life which cannot survive without the assistance of others.”
As the New York Times story concluded, throughout history “a presumed insensitivity to pain has been used to exclude some from humanity’s privileges and protections … Over time, the charmed circle of those considered alive to pain, and therefore fully human, has widened to include members of other religions and races, the poor, the criminal, the mentally ill — and, thanks to the work of Sunny Anand and others, the very young.”
The Gosnell trial reminds us that when newborn babies are cut with scissors, they whimper and cry, and flinch from pain. But it takes only a moment's thought to realize that wherever babies are cut, they whimper and cry, and flinch from pain. Delivered or not, babies are babies, and they can feel pain at 20 weeks. It is time to welcome young children who can feel pain into the human family. And this bill, at last, will do just that.
I congratulate Chairman Franks on this vital legislation, and look forward to hearing from all our witnesses today.
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/2013/05232013.html
Fetal pain acknowledged in Minnesota law
Woman's Right to Know requires women considering abortion to be informed that "some experts have concluded that the unborn child feels physical pain after 20 weeks gestation."
The Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act requires women considering abortion after 20 weeks gestation to be informed "whether or not an anesthetic or analgesic would eliminate or alleviate organic pain to the unborn child caused by the particular method of abortion to be employed."
http://www.mccl.org/pain-capable-unborn-child-protection-act.html
Of the vote FRC President Tony Perkins said:
"The recent murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell and his horrific practice of late-term abortion shows that the United States needs a law to protect babies that can feel pain. At 20 weeks a developing baby can experience pain like any fully grown human being. Across the country, abortion clinics – though maybe not as filthy as Kermit Gosnell's – still cruelly abort babies who are fully capable of feeling their painful and violent deaths.
"To know what is right and not do it is wrong. Doctors and scientists recognize that unborn babies can feel pain at 20 weeks of age. To allow such babies to continue to be aborted is wrong.
"While Americans are divided on abortion, we are united on the rights of the pain-capable unborn. Gallup has found that 64 percent of Americans support protecting babies in the second trimester. We call on Congress to respect the views of their constituents and pass the national Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act."
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/frc-urges-passage-of-pain-capable-unborn-child-protection-act-210145591.html
Here is the actual bill.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3803rh/pdf/BILLS-112hr3803rh.pdf
Why is this dangerous? They left a massive back door to walk the Roe vs Wade decision further back at any point they can get enough physicians to agree with them that a fetus can feel pain at any stage in development. In essence, they are saying "At 20 weeks, its a good chance your fetus can feel pain, so you cant hurt it." Later on, they can come back with "Well, we discovered, with the advancement of medicine, that at 2 weeks, the fetus can feel pain...."
I have no doubt this bill wont become a law. But those who staunchly insist that there is not a war on women... are fucking wrong.
_____________________________
Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.
|
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - 
Profile
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread