Abortion advocates say D.C. fetal pain bill could “eviscerate” Roe, make defeat a top priority
On February 21 pro-abortion advocates including District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray, Planned Parenthood African American Leadership and Engagement Director Ludwig Gaines, and District Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (pictured right) held a press conference to decry the introduction of the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the U.S. House.
If signed into law the Pain-Capable Act would ban abortions past 20 weeks in the District. At least one abortion clinic in D.C., located just eight blocks from the White House, aborts up to 26 weeks.
Based on medical evidence that preborn babies feel pain at least as early as 20 weeks, and likely earlier, the bill allows no exceptions except to save the life of the mother.
Although Norton claimed the Pain-Capable Act would “deny our citizens an individual constitutional right enjoyed by every other citizen of the United States,” in fact the Act has now been signed into law in five states: Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
And although Norton claimed the Act was “unconstitutional,” the lone challenge filed against it to date was thrown out of court.
Norton used interesting terminology to describe what she thought the Pain-Capable Act would do to abortion, stating it “has the potential to eviscerate the entire Roe framework.” Of course, “eviscerate” means to “disembowel,” which is the torture being committed against preborn babies in the District now without regard.
Speaking of, Norton claimed those sponsoring the Pain-Capable Act were using D.C. citizens as “guinea pigs,” to which National Right to Life Committee Legislative Director Douglas Johnson responded, “Anyone who tears a leg off a guinea pig in the District of Columbia can be sent to prison for five years. It should not be lawful to do to a pain-capable unborn child what it is a crime to do to a guinea pig.”
According to Guttmacher, 28% of all pregnancies end in abortion in D.C. It has the 4th highest rate of abortion in the U.S.
In her letter to colleagues, Norton wrote that since NRLC had made the D.C. Pain-Capable Act “a top legislative priority” for 2012, “pro-choice groups have also indicated that stopping this bill will be a top legislative priority in 2012.”
An interesting sidebar. Gaines stirred controversy by claiming pro-lifers “could care less” about black children after they are born, a false and incendiary statement. His logic would be to say killing black children before they are born is the real demonstration of concern.
[Top photo via Roll Call]
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.
The depravity of these people knows no bottom.
Though I bet they feel bad for the guinea pig.
Given that pro-lifers do care about all children–black and otherwise–after they are born, Gaines’ statement is true in a technical sense. We could care less than we do.
…Oh. Unless he meant to say “couldn’t care less” and made a really embarrassing grammatical error. That would be unfortunate.
whats sad is some people will lay down their lives for an animal…..too bad many of these same people wouldnt do the same for an unborn child;(
ohio dishes out harsh sentences for harming animals. you cant abuse your animal but you can kill your children. ?????? odd
i dont care if pro aborts are going to tell me these unfortunate children dont feel pain. i know they do! i was reading a testimony of a 14 year olds mother telling everyone about her daughters late term abortion. the girl heard her son wimper in pain as he was being ripped apart. aaaaaaaaak!
This ground-breaking legislation was introduced in the House (as H.R. 3803) one month ago today. So far, it has gathered 130 cosponsors — but there are still MANY pro-life House members who have not co-sponsored. Here is the current list, arranged by state: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=60779521&cs_party=all&cs_status=C&cs_state=ALL
Please use these tools to encourage your representative in the House to add his or her name immediately, if the lawmaker is not already a co-sponsor:http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=60793686&type=CO
The Senate bill (S. 2103) was introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). So far, only Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has cosponsored the Senate bill, but this is not worrisome, since it was introduced only last week, and Congress is in recess this week. All pro-life senators should be urged to add their names as cosponsors.
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington, District of Columbia
Unfortunately, the most recent studies on fetal pain have shown that fetuses–and premature infants–do not actually feel pain before about 35-37 weeks. They have some ability to identify tactile stimulation, but they do not differentiate between a gentle touch and a painful one, as per a 2011 peer-reviewed study in the Current Biology journal of University College London. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fetus-feels-pain-37-weeks-study/story?id=14472566 So, lawmaker assertions to the contrary, these fetuses are not actually pain-capable.
of course pro aborts feed you that bunk. its not their pain. do premies feel pain? of course they do. those babies feel horrid pain before they are tossed away like garbage. aborted babies just cant TEll you about it because they are helpless.
Consider the words of the preeminent pioneer researcher in the pain-perception capacities of premature infants, Dr. Kanwaljeet S. Anand, who said in a document accepted as expert by a federal court, “It is my opinion that the human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation, if not earlier, and that pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by newborns or older children.”
Infants born as early as 23 or 24 weeks now commonly survive long term in neonatal intensive care units. Neonataologists confirm that they react negatively to painful stimuli — for example, by grimacing, withdrawing, and whimpering. When they must receive surgical procedures, they are given drugs to prevent pain.
Yet, some pro-abortion advocates want you to believe an unborn baby who is at exactly the same stage of development experiences no discomfort as her arms and legs are literally twisted off, by brute manual force, in the common procedure known as dilation and evacuation (or “D&E”), or stabbed through the heart with a needle.
Some of the supposed medical authorities quoted in the press as asserting that human fetuses cannot feel pain until 29 weeks or later have themselves performed thousands of late abortions — and all too often, that fact is not disclosed in the stories quoting these supposed voices of scientific authority.
In any event, the members of Congress will have the opportunity to evaluate these competing claims, and to determine whether the weight of evidence is sufficient to justify the findings in this legislation, and the public policy which it proposes to adopt for the District that the Constitution places under the exclusive legislative authority of the Congress.
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
512 10th Street, N.W.
Washington, District of Columbia
Abortionists commenting on fetal pain? Talk about placing the fox in the hen house…
VS, try to pass that bunck in any NICU in the country. Every day premies well under 37 weeks react violently to pain and are sedated/medicated for painful procedures. In fact the tactile senses of newborns and premies are so sensitive you can’t even gently stroke many premies without causing a clear pain response. Their sense of touch is so sensitive, when we were in the NICU, doctors recommended you ‘stroke’ a half inch above their skin, babes respond to ‘touch’ before one actually makes contact with the skin. It’s absolute insanity to say a 22 week old micro premie is capable of feeling extreme pain from only minor touch and then saying a 24/28/36 week old inutero babe doesn’t feel pain when you rip a limb off.
thank you douglass. of course a whimpering aborted baby felt horrific pain. pro aborts just dont want to look like the slimes they are. as i said……its not their pain!
hi jespren nice to see you;) i guess the Jews didnt feel pain on the death marches? no hunger pains from being starved to death and made to slave away on no food at all. and all of the children subjected to torture. the gas showers. being buried alive in trenches. how could they feel pain? they were sub human remember? my hubby is Jewish and he is 100 percent human!
Thanks Heather :)
And yes, the Jews supposedly didn’t feel pain in the ‘same way’ as nordic races because the Nazis thought they were less evolved. Hardly the first time such an arguement has been used either, the ‘less evolved’ not feeling real ‘human’ pain was used against the Aboriginals, the Africans, the Asians (‘mongoloid’ races), and the Native Americans. Of course ‘whites’ and pro-aborts don’t hold the sole use of such ideas, many Native American tribes thought other tribes were sub-human in comparision to them, the Aztecs and Mayans both held similiar beliefs, as did some African and Asian peoples. My point, long-windedly (I’m sick, not very percise today), is that it’s actually extremely common to classify those you seek to opress as sub-human.
As i’ve said many times, my daughter was a 33 week preemie. OF COURSE she felt pain! They put a feeding tube in her nose…and she let us know she wanted it out! ;)
She only had it in for a few days, thankfully.
Watch “The Silent Scream” sometime if you think babies in the womb don’t feel pain. There is also a segment where they had a baby of 9 weeks gestation in a petri dish and the Scientist (?) was poking the baby with a needle or sharp instrument of some kind…
and the baby was reacting to pain! The woman in the documentary asked Dr. Bernard Nathanson “Now..will they just keep poking it until it dies?” (yes..she referred to the baby as ‘it’).
Dr. Nathanson replied “That’s apparently what they did, and this baby died a short time later”. Notice HE said “Baby” not “it”.
More people really need to watch “The Silent Scream”….maybe if they SEE it (the humanity of the pre-born) they might (notice…I said “might”) finally “get” it.
VS, that is the biggest bunch of bs I have probably ever heard by a pro-abort. I don’t care what idiot study tries to disqualify a premmies pain. I have worked in maternity care for years, tiny premmies cry out from pain from medical procedures that are meant to save their lives but having that same gestation premmie have his or her limbs torn apart, stabbing them in the heart, burning them with saline, stabbing them in the neck and sucking their brains out is indeed horrific and barbaric. Pain is called the “5th vital sign” in healthcare for a reason, not treating pain is call negligent, a good reason to be sued for malpractice, fired and potentially lose your license. (Oh I guess that “pain” only applies if the patient can speak up and tell you it hurts and crying, wailing, frantic premmies don’t count). Severe pain can cause other vital signs to become unstable. Don’t insult the intelligence of those who are healthcare workers or even the parents of premmies with that garbage. I always have thought it would be quite a rude awakening for someone to do to pro-aborts the same ”pro-death abortion procedure” they consider “necessary, safe and legal” to do to pre-born babies. “Turn about is fair play” don’t you think VS? Especially since you are so sure the baby (oops fetus) doesn’t feel pain until 35-37 weeks. Sorry mods for thr long post but this one got to me.
Hi PLL,
I am from the era when it was thought preemies did not feel pain. I cringe to think what horror those little souls endured, which included surgery without anesthesia.
Thankfully, this mentality changed. I remember meeting an anesthesiologist who specialized in the care of these tiny preemies. He had his own special setup to provide them with anesthesia.
That’s what my cousin- the daughter of my pro-abort aunt tried to tell me once, that that’s why she was “ok” with abortion because “it doesn’t feel pain anyway”, which was actually a step above her mother who says “it’s not a baby yet, anyway”.
*SIGH!*
Hi Mary. I too am so glad that they stopped peddling that “babies don’t feel pain” garbage (while we were strapping down baby boys to do circs and other procedures). “We’ve come a long way baby” regarding recognizing that babies feel pain. Oh I forgot for VS’s benefit at least the “wanted” babies do feel pain, the “unwanted” ones targeted for abortion don’t feel pain until they are 35-37 weeks gestation.
Pamela, I really wish I had kept the link, but there was an awesome still/video narrative by a pro-life embrologist describing development in the first trimester. It’s medically well-know the only thing one needs to fell pain is a hypothalmus, nerve pathways, and nerve endings. People in comas or who are extensively brain damaged with no higher order brain function still feel pain as the hypothalmus is one of the last areas of the brain to shut down. It’s used as an arguement to take people off life-support because it’s the *only* sensation people who have only brain stem activity are considered capable of feeling. Clearly these people, like the very young inutero humans, do not have the ability to comprehend pain, but they can still feel it. Well, the hypothalamus starts functions between 8 and 9 weeks! Nerve pathways are already present and nerve endings, beginning on the torso and spreading out, become fully formed at 8 weeks. There isn’t a single *biological* reason to not believe a fetus of just 9 weeks gestation is capable of feeling pain.
I think the pain-capable acts are really good foot-in-the-door legislation, because as earlier premies start surviving and biology stops taking a back door to political idiology they have the potential to push back the allowable age of abortion back much further than ‘viability’. Viability is such an absurd concept. Even 5 and 6 week old fetuses, removed during ectopic pregnancies usually, have been observed ‘surviving’ unattatched to mom for a minute or two (the time it takes them to suffocate), which is longer than some newborns make it. ‘Viability’ is a creatures ability to survive in it’s *natural* habitat. A adult is no more ‘viable’ outside of his natural habitat than a fetus is outside theirs.
Hey – as a person born at 24 weeks, I can assure you that babies feel pain. they did not want too much touching/prodding and my mother could not even hold me until I was very much bigger.
a long time ago, they did not think born babies felt pain, and when they did surgery on them – yes – you guessed it – no meds for pain. Now they think differently, thankfully.
The whole question boils down – why not err on the side of caution? If they do feel pain, then why cause harm. And indeed, if they are human – why kill them?
Of course, we know the answer – children – born and pre-born – are human, and deserve to be treated as part of our human race, our human family. So erring on the side of caution would respect all human life, from beginning to end.
We can protect the baby animals, let’s protect the pre-born and baby humans. Maybe we will finally grow into being humane…
The Biology of Prenatal Development DVD is available from The Endowment For Human Development (website). there are samples of it on the Center For Bio-Ethical Reform website. Shows developing babies at 4,6,8 and 10 weeks in the womb.
You can see their little hearts beating…pretty cool videos if you ask me. ;)
VS, others have already corrected you, but I feel the need to step in as well due to my personal experience. I have a child that was born at 34 1/2 weeks, a child at 27 weeks and a child at 36 weeks. Your post is insulting for multiple reasons! My children responded to pain as much as their sister did, who was born at 39 weeks. In many ways, they were MORE responsive to pain than they are now. I couldn’t even stroke my son, who was born at 27 weeks, when he was first born because it would cause him pain. I had to just put my hands on him and not move my hands, which he very much liked. I honestly can’t believe (well, maybe in some ways I can) that the pro-abortion industry would expect us to believe that these children can’t feel pain! Years ago they used to believe that newborns didn’t feel pain either. Are you going to tell us that full-term newborns don’t feel pain either?
I can remember when women were patronizingly laughed at by their doctors when they said their unborn children jumped to loud noises or when the alarm went off in the morning.
What would women know about these these thing? Certainly, it was “known” that unborn children were incapable of hearing much less responding to sound.
More proof that the prochoice movement is antiscience.
As much as I want this bill to pass, it still floors me that people are more reluctant to cause pain to a pre-born child than to kill him. What is wrong with people?! Oy ve.
dont forget with a rabid pro abort its all about ME ME ME and MY comfort. will this abortion hurt ME? they could care less about the pain their children will feel. its all about them and their lives moving forward.