[Vision2020] The Fetus as a Person

[heirdoug at netscape.net]

UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT

Unborn children can experience pain, and they can certainly respond to 
touch from outside the womb.  Any woman who has been blessed with 
carrying a baby in the second trimester can tell you this.

I remember my own children kicking and squirming inside of my wife's 
womb.  And my wife certainly remembers feeling their kicks.  That 
unborn child is very much alive.  All along, women have been able to 
feel the child inside of them, but now, science is telling us what the 
child inside of his or her mother can feel.

Many are unaware of the scientific, medical fact that unborn children 
can feel, but it is true.  Not only can they feel, but their ability to 
experience pain is heightened.  The highest density of pain receptors 
per square inch of skin in human development occurs in utero from 20 to 
30 weeks gestation.

An expert report on fetal development, prepared for the Partial Birth 
Abortion Ban trials, notes that while unborn children are obviously 
incapable of verbal expressions, we know that they can experience pain 
based upon anatomical, functional, physiological and behavioral 
indicators that are correlated with pain in children and adults.

Unborn children can experience pain.  This is why unborn children are 
often administered anesthesia during in utero surgeries.

Think about the pain that unborn children can experience, and then 
think about the more gruesome abortion procedures.  Of course, we have 
heard about Partial Birth Abortion, but also consider the D&E abortion. 
  During this procedure, commonly performed after 20-weeks--when there 
is medical evidence that the child can experience severe pain--the 
child is torn apart limb from limb.  Think about how that must feel to 
a young human.

We would never allow a dog to be treated this way.  Yet, the creature 
we are talking about is a young, unborn child.

Fortunately, the issue of pain experienced by unborn children has been 
covered by the news media during the Partial Birth Abortion Ban trials. 
  Take for instance an April 7, 2004 Associated Press news article 
covering the trials:

A type of abortion banned under a new federal law would cause 'severe 
and excruciating' pain to 20-week-old fetuses, a medical expert 
testified yesterday... 'I believe the fetus is conscious,' said Dr. 
Kanwaljeet 'Sonny' Anand, a pediatrician at the University of Arkansas 
for Medical Sciences. ... Anand said yesterday that fetuses show 
increased heart rate, blood flow, and hormone levels in response to 
pain. 'The physiological responses have been very clearly studied,' he 
said. 'The fetus cannot talk . . . so this is the best evidence we can 
get.'

To address this issue, I have introduced--with 30 cosponsors--the 
Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (S.51), which would require those who 
perform abortions on unborn children 20 weeks after fertilization to 
inform the woman seeking an abortion of the medical evidence that the 
unborn child feels pain--

a. through a verbal statement given by the abortion provider, and also

b. by providing a brochure--developed by the Department of Health and 
Human Services--that goes into more detail than the verbal statement on 
the medical evidence of pain experienced by an unborn child 20 weeks 
after fertilization

The bill would also ensure that the woman, if she chooses to continue 
with the abortion procedure after being given the medical information, 
has the option of choosing anesthesia for the child, so that the unborn 
child's pain is less severe.

Women should not be kept in the dark; women have the right to know what 
their unborn child experiences during an abortion.  After being 
presented with the medical and scientific information on the 
development of the unborn child 20 weeks after fertilization, the woman 
is more aware of the pain experienced by the child during an abortion 
procedure, and able--at the very least--to make an informed decision.  
It is simply not fair to keep women in the dark.

Unborn children do not have a voice, but they are young members of the 
human family.  It is time to look at the unborn child, and recognize 
that it is really a young human, who can feel pain and should be 
treated with care.


_________________________

Doug!
"Babies what a wonderful way to start people"

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