FRC Supports Legislation Notifying Women of Unborn Child's Pain During Abortion
Family Research Council announced its support for the “Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act” during a May 20th press conference held on Capitol Hill where the bill was introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).
If the legislation passes, women seeking an abortion of an unborn baby beyond the 20th week must be notified of the medical evidence that shows the unborn babies feel pain during the abortion.
Pediatrician Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand who testified in the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban trial said that the procedure causes "severe and excruciating pain" to 20 week-old fetuses.
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"We cannot deny the medical evidence now before us," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a statement Thursday. "From testimony taken during the recent partial-birth abortion hearings and advancements in the field of utero technology, science is telling us unborn children as young as 20 weeks old can feel pain.”
Upon being notified that their 20-week-old unborn baby feels pain during the abortion, the bill also requires the abortionist to the mother anesthesia for her unborn child.
"The evidence we have is clear, and we should not keep that evidence from women," Perkins said. "I'm sure pro-abortion proponents will come out in strong opposition to this bill, which will go a long way in exposing their hypocrisy on the issue of women's rights.”
"Women have the right to know what happens when they have an abortion and they have a right to know the pain their unborn child will experience when it is being aborted. Anyone who would deny a woman such information is hardly a defender of women's rights," he said.
The National Right to Life Committee, one of the bill's main supporters, reported that a Zogby poll conducted in April found that 77 percent of Americans support "laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancy be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion."
"This legislation does nothing to infringe on so-called 'abortion rights,' it would simply require abortion providers to tell women seeking an abortion about the medical evidence on pain experienced by unborn children during an abortion," Perkins said. "This legislation falls in the 'right to know' category. Those who oppose this legislation show that their true allegiance is to the 'abortion on demand' agenda - not women.”
