House Lawmakers Plug Fetal Pain Awareness Bill Before Vote

House Lawmakers Plug Fetal Pain Awareness Bill Before Vote
By Jim Brown
December 6, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC (AgapePress) - Pro-life groups and members of the House are pressing for passage of a bill to require women considering an abortion to be informed of the pain their baby would feel during the procedure.

Today the U.S. House will vote on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 6099), which is sponsored by New Jersey Representative Chris Smith. If passed, the measure require that women considering an abortion 20 weeks or more after fertilization be informed of the pain their child would feel during the lethal procedure so they may request anesthesia in order to reduce or eliminate the child's pain. The bill would not require anesthesia; it would, however, protect a doctor's right to inform the woman of any risks to her according to the doctor's own best medical judgment.

Smith and several colleagues held a press conference earlier this week in support of the legislation. Ohio Congressman Steve Chabot, who authored the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, said the unborn child pain act should cause both Republicans and Democrats to "step back and ask themselves who they are in the human community." Often, he said, the greatest challenge an individual has is to put himself or herself in the place of another.

"I hope that we can put ourselves in the place of these little unborn children who have no voice, no hope, no defense," said Chabot. He added that he is hopeful his fellow House members can ask themselves "who we are as a human family" and "if those men and women lying out in Arlington National Cemetery really died so that we could torturously kill 400 members' late-term babies every day without anesthetic."

One Iowa lawmaker pointed out that unborn children in America are not receiving the same level of protection that livestock are. As a member of both the House Judiciary and House Agriculture committees, Representative Steve King said he has noticed a stark and shocking contrast between the success of pro-life legislation and livestock legislation.

"We've granted authority to the Secretary of Agriculture [through something] called the Animal Welfare Act, where he can regulate the transport, sale, and handling of various animals that are used for research," noted King. "There's other legislation out there that sets up animals above people.

"And I find myself standing here [thinking that] it seems bizarre ... that we're even in this discussion about how to potentially inform the expectant mother of the pain that an unborn child is going through while that baby's being killed."

King noted the Humane Slaughter Act requires that any animal that is to be slaughtered is to be rendered unconscious first -- yet that same provision is not being afforded to unborn children."

Florida Congressman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was among those speaking at the press conference on Tuesday. She said that informing women of the pain felt by their unborn child is "not something to be compromised."

"Medical evidence suggests that an unborn child can feel pain at 20 weeks if not earlier," she commented. "As such, it is our responsibility as legislators to see women throughout America are informed of the intense pain experienced by their unborn child during an abortion and offer them an option to ease their child's pain."

In addition, Arizona Congressman Rick Rienzi shared that during a time of year when people talk of peace on earth and civility in the nation, it is only proper to focus on the suffering felt by unborn victims of abortion. "As a father of 12 kids, seven boys and five girls, I very much love my nation; I love her," Rienzi said. "But I don't revere her when she has a law on her books that allows this kind of pain and suffering, this kind of conflict in our nation."

Rienzi thanked Rep. Smith for authoring the bill and, in doing so, educating the nation "as we inform women and husbands and partners and doctors of what [is needed] for there to be real justice in the womb." Smith believes he has garnered the support of at least 35 pro-life Democrats to back his measure. The legislation has even drawn the support of the pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

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