Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2006
UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2006)
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, most, perhaps everybody in this House today, has had to deal at one time or another with the emotional agony of a loved one dying from severe illness, an accident, or perhaps even an act of violence.
One of the questions we often ask is, Did they suffer? How much pain did they endure? Did we do everything we can to alleviate their pain?
Today, we can no longer deny, trivialize or gloss over the significant and ever-expanding body of knowledge that shows that an unborn child suffers real pain, excruciating pain, when he or she is dismembered, as in a D&E abortion, or jabbed with scissors as in a partial-birth abortion, or poisoned by an abortionist.
Not only is abortion violence against children, but we now know that the abortion act itself is painful to the baby as well. As the gentleman from Georgia pointed out a moment ago, Dr. Sunny Anand, an expert on pain for the unborn and the neonates, has pointed out that human fetuses possess the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation, if not earlier, and there is a whole growing body of evidence that clearly demonstrates that. Meanwhile, approximately 18,000 unborn children at 20 weeks or beyond, are destroyed without even the basic decency of pain relief.
Let me describe to you what one of the abortionists who now has turned pro-life, says about the D and E abortion procedure. He did about 10 abortions per week, Dr. Anthony Levatino, from New York, here is how he described this D&E method of abortion. These are his words, he did them: ``Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard, really hard. You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about 4-5 inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the same length.
Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart, and lungs. The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby's head. ``The head of the baby that age is about the size of a plum,'' he goes on to say, ``and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it when the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush down on the clamp and see a pure white gelatinous material issued from the cervix. That was the baby's brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. If you have a really bad day,'' he goes on to say, ``like I often did, a little face may come out and stare right back at you.''
Mr. Speaker, this is a hideous, barbaric abuse of children. And, yes, sadly we are not stopping it with this legislation. I wish we had the ability to protect these children from this kind of child abuse. We need to affirm both patients, mother and baby. That is what prenatal care is all about. Our legislation is simply informed consent, requiring that a brochure, not unlike those booklets given to women in many States of the union that describe the growth of an unborn child and any problems she may experience, be given to her since she has the right to know this very important information.
Abortion methods kill, Mr. Speaker, and we need to at least allow that child pain medication information be conveyed to the mother.
Most--perhaps everyone in the House today--has had to deal at one time or another with the emotional agony of a loved one dying from severe illness, an accident or perhaps even an act of violence.
One of the questions we often ask is how much did they suffer? How much pain? Did we do everything possible to alleviate that pain?
Today, we can no longer deny, trivialize, or gloss over the significant and ever expanding body of knowledge that shows that an unborn child suffers real pain--excruciating pain--when he or she is dismembered as in a D & E abortion, or jabbed with scissors in a partial birth abortion, or poisoned by an abortionist.
Not only is abortion violence against children but we now know that abortion is painful to the baby as well.
In expert testimony provided to the Northern District of the US District Court in California during the partial birth abortion trials, Dr. Sunny Anand, Director of the Pain Neurobiology Lab at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute said, ``the human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation, if not earlier, and the pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by term newborn's or older children.''
In testimony before the Virginia State Senate, Dr. Jean Wright of Emory University School of Medicine said ``Aspects of pain architecture begin as early as six to seven weeks, mature and are identified by their anatomy, their physiology, and the coordination of responses so that by 20-22 weeks of gestation, the evidence reveals a developed system of pain perception and response. ..... The ability to modulate or blunt the pain response does not develop until the last weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks of infancy, leading us to believe that the pain perceived in the fetus is greater than that in the full-term infant.
Dr. Anand further describes before the court that the'' highest density of pain receptors per square inch of skin in human development occurs in utero,'' while still in the womb, ``from 20 to 30 weeks gestation. During this period, the epidermis is still very thin, leaving nerve fibers closer to the surface of the skin than in older neonates and adults.''
He went on to explain that the pain inhibitory mechanisms, in other words fibers which dampen and modulate the experience of pain, do not begin to develop until 32 to 34 weeks of gestation. Thus, Dr. Anand concludes, a fetus 20 to 32 weeks of gestation would experience a much more intense pain than older infants or children or adults when these groups are subjected to similar types of injury.
Dr. Anand points out on the question of fetal consciousness that more than 3 decades of research show that preterm infants are actively perceiving, learning and organizing information, and are constantly striving to regulate themselves, their environment and their experiences. All preterm infants actively approach and favor experiences that are developmentally supporting and actively avoiding experiences that are disruptive.
Additionally a recent British study measured blood flow and oxygen in the part of the brain that feels pain while blood was drawn during a heel lance. The results showed a surge of blood and oxygen in the sensory area of their brains, meaning the pain was processed in the higher levels of the brain. Indicating that these little boys and girls do feel pain.
Meanwhile approximately 18,000 unborn children at 20 weeks or beyond are destroyed without the basic decency of pain relief. That means that twice every hour a baby is destroyed without pain alleviation by methods that include the D and E abortion.
The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act is a modest but necessary expansion of informed consent.
To date several states have enacted informed consent laws that convey in booklet form to the mother the facts concerning development of an unborn baby as well as risks associated with abortions.
Our bipartisan legislation simply ensures that new information concerning pain capable in unborn babies be conveyed as well.
Under HR 6099, a woman considering an abortion at or past 20 weeks fertilization must simply be given an HHS produced brochure describing the most accurate and up to date information on unborn child pain. After that, the mother is given a decision form on which she may either request or decline pain relieving drugs for her baby prior to the abortion.
Is it our hope that this additional information may dissuade a woman from allowing her child to be killed? Absolutely.
I--we--believe good medicine should affirm the value, and dignity of every human life. We need to affirm both patients--mother and child.
For the child dismembered by hideous and abusive abortion methods like the D & E abortion that happen every day--the little girl or boy at least shouldn't be made to suffer.
Here's how Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist describes the painful D & E abortion.
``Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard--really hard. You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about 4-5 inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart and lungs..... The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby's head. The head of the baby that age is about the size of a plum and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it if the [Sopher] clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush down on the clamp and see a puer white gelatinous material issued from the cervix. That was the baby's brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. If you have a really bad day like I often did, a little face may come out and stare back at you.''
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. The Unborn Pain Child Awareness Act is a modest but necessary expansion of informed consent. Let me remind my colleagues that in State after State throughout the country these booklets like the one in my hand that describe fetal development are given to the woman prior to an abortion. These kinds of informed consent booklets have been vigorously opposed by the abortion lobby, and we know for a fact from former as well as current-day abortionists do not discuss the baby's pain. They rarely will talk about anything that is even remotely connected with the humanity of the unborn child. It is just not part of what they convey to the woman.
Let me also point out to my colleagues that the 2005 JAMA article that is being pushed by members and the press has been part of a slick disinformation campaign and is true junk science. The authors of that study failed to point out that their conflict of interest. Susan Lee is a medical student who was previously employed as a lawyer for NARAL, and Eleanor Drey, runs the largest abortion clinic in San Francisco, where they do 600 D and E or late-term abortions every year, those hideous abortions where the baby is dismembered and she has been a very strong advocate of partial birth abortion. Eleanor Drey too did not disclose as one of the authors of that study her affiliation. Talk about conflict of interest, and the study is riddled with holes.
Finally, what the legislation does, and let us be clear, it just requires the informed consent brochure from the Department of Health and Human Service and that the mother be given an informed consent form to sign.
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