New fetal pain bill brings late-term abortion battle to Obama’s back yard
Yesterday, as the March for Life was taking place, pro-life Arizona Congressman Trent Franks (pictured right) introduced the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
The backdrop, according to the National Right to Life Committee:
Article I of the U.S. Constitution established that the national seat of government would be placed forever not within any state, but in a special Federal District – and that the Congress would “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District.”
But what would the Framers of our Constitution say if they returned today – and learned, to their horror, that well-developed unborn babies are legally being put to death, in terrible pain, virtually within the shadow of the U.S. Capitol?
And they are.
Washington Surgi-Clinic, located just eight blocks from the White House, advertises it will abort babies up to 26 weeks old (6-1/2 months) “us[ing] a method called dilatation and evacuation (D&E).” Here’s a medical illustration of a D&E via National Right to Life. Click to enlarge….
In addition, Dr. James Pendergraft (pictured right), a convicted felon whose medical license has been suspended three times in Florida, advertises at LateTermAbortion.net that he will kill babies in Washington, D.C. in their “late second and third trimester.” According to this website, Pendergraft will abort up to 34 weeks, i.e., 7-1/2 months gestation.
Pendergraft lethally injects a baby by inserting a needle directly into her heart. Even convicted murderers undergoing lethal injection are anesthetized beforehand. But not innocent babies being aborted.
There is overwhelming evidence that preborn babies feel pain by the age of 20 weeks and probably much earlier. Preborn babies as young as 18 weeks are routinely anesthetized when undergoing surgery.
The image, left, is of a 22-weeker. Babies this age and older are being torn limb from limb every day during abortions in at least the aforementioned two clinics in Washington, D.C., obviously with no regard for the excruciating pain they endure.
But Congressman Franks’ bill would ban all abortions in the District after 20 weeks.
Five states have now enacted abortion pain bans since 2010: Alabama, Kansas, Idaho, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. While abortion proponents claim the ban is unconstitutional, since it contains no health exception and does not take viability into consideration, the lone challenge filed against it was thrown out of court.
Introducing the pain ban in the District of Columbia at this time is also a calculated move to bring pain to pro-abortion politicians, particularly President Barack Obama, who previously opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act and Partial-Birth Abortion Ban as Illinois state senator. According to The Hill, January 24:
Abortion foes are planning an election-year strategy aimed at forcing President Obama and congressional Democrats to take a potentially damaging stand on the issue….
“If at the end of this congressional session, abortion remains unrestricted … in the nation’s capital, it will only be because certain members of Congress – or the president – have obstructed this bill,” NLRC [sic] federal legislative director Douglas Johnson said Monday.
“And if they do that, they – and they alone, under the Constitution – are fully accountable for that policy.”…
Franks said he hopes his bill will draw attention to the abortion issue and remind the public of President Obama’s pro-abortion rights record. He said he hasn’t talked to Republican leaders in Congress about his bill.
But Congressman Franks got his ducks in a row before dropping the pain ban, hoping to preclude resistance from any spineless Republicans in leadership while sending shivers down the spine of congressional abortion proponents who can see another partial-birth abortion type of debate from their house – and dread it.
Congressman Franks made sure that when the pain ban bill was dropped its sponsor/co-sponsor list included the chairmen of the two committees and two subcommittees before which it will be heard:
- Congressman Darrell Issa, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- Congressman Trey Gowdy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives
- Congressman Lamar Smith, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee
- Congressman Trent Franks, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution
Ask your congressperson to sign on as co-sponsor to HR 3803 if s/he is not yet on the list.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
This bill will make the late-term baby killers show themselves in public for who/what they are. I am lovin it!
Standard proabort rhetoric here: “but late term abortions are illegal and leik never happen except when” yeah, sure they don’t. There are entire websites devoted to locating late term abortions, and who makes the final call on when late term abortion is ‘medically indicated?’ The abortionist. Prochoice couldn’t care less about fetal pain-the first question the majority of women aborting ask before the procedure begins is “will this hurt me?”
We have a little revolution brewing and it is causing big time headaches for the spineless pols who want our votes but not the fall-out for supporting us.
It is absolutely imperative that prolife forces win in November. Failure is not an option. The main stream media pundits are saying that we won’t be able to beat Obama—this is an attempt to demoralize people so that they don’t even go to the polls. Everything hangs on a single vote in the supreme court and Obama cannot be the one making the appointments the next four years. And of course we need to keep the House and get control of the Senate. All of these are very doable and we will succeed. Don’t let anyone tell you anything else.
“nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
i worked with a girl who had a late term abortion. she was about 6 months pregnant. she returned to work with a pretty flat tummy and lied. she told everyone ” i had a miscarriage. ” later the truth came out because the babys fathers mother worked there to. one day she broke down and said ” she murdered my grandson.” thenb the girl finally fessed up ” i had an abortion.” i remember thinking ~ how could you?
Unborn babies feel pain…..Makes me feel like I’m reading one of those studies that prove once and for all that men and women are different! Well, thank you, I didn’t know that! What is abortion but an enormous Lie that becomes Truth if you repeat it and dress it up?
Have pro-choicers ever imagine how painful is abortion for the unborned child? If they approve it, could they do those abortion themselves and watch the baby die? This is a horrible procedure! Ask any person concieved in rape if they would rather have been cut into small pieces live instead of living. I saw once a man in Irack being dismembered between two army trucks! It wasn’t pleasant to see. He must have done something very awful to see soldiers killing him in such a horrible way! But the child has done any harm, Why do we force on him such a horrible way to die?
considering that a baby born weighing 9 OUNCES just went home with her mother, weighing 4.5 pounds and was born about 4 months premature, we need this…and I just LOVE that its right under obama’s watch that he’s introducing it. Go Trent!
premtuare babies that survive ton go home….when they are born early….they are proiving that they are NO Different than the baby being killed at an abortion mill on the other side of town.
The myth of viability and how it confers value is ridiculous.
I’m sitting here at my desk at work, and to be honest, I don’t feel particualrly viable today.
at that stage of the game that baby is kicking and unless you are totally ignorant id say you know its a baby. you could have hung in there and had it!
Do I really want to comment here today? Do I really want to start this?
sigh
Heather,
Please tell me you comforted your coworker when she broke down. Please tell me you looked into her eyes and saw her pain and had compassion for her. I KNOW it is hard but saying what you think out loud to someone hurting is very different than offering comfort to someone in need.
I hope you get that.
There is overwhelming evidence that preborn babies feel pain by the age of 20 weeks and probably much earlier. Preborn babies as young as 18 weeks are routinely anesthetized when undergoing surgery.
While Ms. Stanek’s “overwhelming evidence” is cited on a “Right to Life” site, the non partisan University of California has different information which posits that 29 weeks is the benchmark.
And Carla is right about the judgement thing.
Don’t make me like you CC.
Don’t do it.
:)
If there is ANY chance that a human being is feeling any physical pain isn’t it in their best interest to try alleviate it??
It stands to reason that a human being in utero feels their legs and arms being ripped off. At 18 weeks. At 20 weeks and at 29 weeks. Even at 28 weeks and 6 1/2 days!!
Benchmarks Schmenchmarks…
prematurely born babies have to be handled very carefully because they are so fragile. They feel pain. babies that same age are aborted at some mills! Babies feel pain much earlier than 29 weeks.
The material cited by CC above is produced by the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, a center for abortion training and propaganda. It is a division of the University of California at San Francisco.
More on that here:
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/Fetal_Pain/NRLCrebuttalJAMA.html
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington, D.C.
well indeed i hugged her. this was back in 2002 and she was so kind to the patients ( we worked at a hospice ) she wasnt crying. perhaps looking for some comfort? she said the doctors said ” you got yourself into this. now you have to get yourself out of it.” thats all she told me. i didnt want to upset her. maybe today she will be in recovery. i hope so. she upset an entire family.
Douglas–thank you for postin that. When I read CC’s post and saw that it came from University of California, I had to laugh that she was calling us out as partisan.
CC–you don’t care for the unborn. Why would it matter to you if they feel pain at all? If you knew there were suffering, that still wouldn’t change you same-ol’ same-ol’song: KILL THE UNBORN. THAT’S HOW WE’LL BE FREE!!!
i should say that the girl who aborted did so in the same hospital where i delivered all 4 of mine. on one side they hand them to you and on the other they kill them. how tragic!
Several studies say by 20 weeks, hormonal stress response is evident in the fetal bloodstream.
Those who claim that because the fetus may be in an unconscious or sleeping state, it does not feel pain, are speculating. The release of those hormones makes it clear that the fetus’ body is responding to pain in the way any newborn would.
Heather,
Yeah. She must have been very upset and I pray she found recovery. If you ever find her please let her know I am here for her.
Makes my heart ache.
That procedure is just ghastly. I just can’t believe that this is legal. How on earth can this be defended?
Benchmark indeed. I was born at less than 28 weeks. Anyone who supports abortion is wrong, of course, but those who support late term abortion are in a special, highly loathesome state of wrongness.
It’s never to late to choose life!
Anyone who buys that ‘babies are in an unconscious state’ has clearly never carried a baby-they do somersaults, dance, kick, and get their feet stuck between your ribs when stretching. They can savor your meals with you, hiccup, yawn, smile, dream, cry, suck their thumb, and thrash around violently at unpleasant stimuli. Not bad for someone who’s supposedly unconscious for nine months. Six inches of birth canal does not confer something that wasn’t already present, including the ability to feel excruciating pain. Their pain is far greater than ours because their skin is so new and the receptors are far more sensitive. If a housefly can feel it when you pull off its legs, how much more so an unborn child? Here’s an excellent, peer-reviewed study on fetal pain: http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/anand/
Carla,
You’re coming off smug and consedending to Heather. I realize some women who abort are victms, but many are not. Do you realize that some women abort over and over again without remorse? I happen to know some very cold hearted women. We should be judgemental of these types of women, the are commiting violent acts against innocent human beings.
Many, many times we go after the abortionist, but the most guilty party in the crime here is the women having the abortion, not the abortionist, not the politician, not the government, not Obama, not planned parenthood, these are co-conspirators and hired assasins.
Jasper, it is the abortionist, the DemoncRAT’s, the government’s, Obama’s and planned parenthood’s fault, they are predators.
I haven’t been here in over a year but nothing seems to change.
Abortion is a rock bottom act. It represents everything that is wrong with the human condition.
If you’re thinking of having an abortion, “DON”T”…….Please!
Jasper,
Smug?
That is your opinion. If it were Heather’s opinion I would think she and I could discuss that.
A woman broken over her abortion doesn’t need to hear, “How could you???” She is the woman I am trying to reach.
The women without remorse that abort over and over? One day they just might need and want and desire help and I will try to reach them too!
Please tell me how your judgement of them helps. Please examine your heart.
I read of hatred for post abortive women every single day. Gets a little tiring.
I have 3 hurting women signed up so far for the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. Not going to bash them over the head with HOW COULD YOU??!!
ALL women are victims of abortion.
So true, Carla. Even women who haven’t aborted and never will. Abortion diminishes all of us.
If you are hurting after your abortion please get in touch with me.
carla@jillstanek.com
or call The National Helpline for Abortion Recovery
1-866-482-LIFE
or find a Rachel’s Vineyard retreat near you
http://www.rachelsvineyard.org
MPQ,
Agreed.
Oh, the irony at calling it ‘dilation and evacuation’. evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat.
“A woman broken over her abortion doesn’t need to hear, “How could you???” She is the woman I am trying to reach.”
I not referring to the women who has remorse.
“The women without remorse that abort over and over? One day they just might need and want and desire help and I will try to reach them too!
Please tell me how your judgement of them helps. Please examine your heart.”
Our judgment is correct, it is warning them about the evil they commited. It’s a more charitable position then calling them victims. Every day we judge abortionists, clinic escourts, pro-abort politicians, PP, heck if we’re not going to judge the party most responsible, let’s not judge the other parties involved as well, lets just say nothing…
“I read of hatred for post abortive women every single day. Gets a little tiring. ”
I don’t, but I see plenty of hatred for Obama, pro-aborts, abortionists and PP
“I have 3 hurting women signed up so far for the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. Not going to bash them over the head with HOW COULD YOU??!! ”
I’m not reffering to women who have remorse, many do not and do not care and abortion does not bother the at all.
“ALL women are victims of abortion.”
No, they are not all victims, some are, like yourself, but not all are.
ALL unborn babies are victims of abortion.
I went 7-8 years of no remorse. Before every single person repents aren’t they unrepentant??!!
I had my fill of condemnation and judgement from my own church. I kept my mouth shut and stayed silent UNTIL I heard that JESUS LOVES ME!! Wow. He loves me. I had an abortion and He loves me anyway!! He loves and forgives and I repented!
Amazing grace. Love wins.
Perhaps reading the reaction that Jesus had to the woman caught in adultery might shed more light on it than I can, Jasper. This woman saw in His eyes something she had never seen before. So did I.
It is charitable to point ALL post abortive women in the direction of The Only One who will heal them after abortion.
Oh, the countless mean-spirited comments I’ve heard over many, many decades. The initial one was the abortionist (41 years ago); it’s just a clump of tissues; to big deal, Then it was my own family & friends telling me to move on; it’s no big deal (again); quit dwelling on the past, and some even shouting at me saying baby killer; you’re a cold-hearted woman, and other comments I can’t even post. But I was really hurting deep within my soul, coupled with despair before my acceptance, repentance & healing.
While one may be tempted to get angry and frustrated over women who show no remorse, always show charity, love & hope to them. By setting an example, you never know how you might soften one’s heart.
Good site! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I might be notified when a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your feed which must do the trick! Have a great day!
So if i dont have an abortion would you take care of my baby? i think the answer is no… in some cases it is better to have an abortion. i dont think you should keep doing it but if it happens one time then it is a choice.
Marla, are you actually pregnant and planning to have an abortion right now, or are you speaking from a purely hypothetical standpoint?
If the former is true, there are hundreds of crisis pregnancy centres across North America that provide free resources to pregnant women, along with aid to take care of their babies after they’re born or find an adoptive family (there is always a shortage of infants to adopt). You should find one near you. There are realistic alternatives to abortion:
http://www.optionline.org/
If the latter is true, this is largely irrelevant to whether abortion is ever an acceptable choice. If you replace “have an abortion” with “kill my toddler”, you would conclude that someone can only be opposed to killing toddlers if they’re in a position to immediately adopt. I’m sure any reasonable person would do everything they could to prevent the murder of a toddler, but if they failed to do so that would not imply that it’s okay to kill one.
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HisMan!
Was just talking about you last night!! How are you?!
this is bullshit! i think the pople thats doing this should be torchured and torn from limb to limb for killing unborn live babies! dumb fucks