Posted by
1 Voice on Friday, January 26, 2007 1:45:01 AM
Yes. Representative Chris Smith from New Jersey said onthe House floor:
"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 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."
Dr. Anand is the leading authority on fetal pain in the U.S. Dr. Jean Wright is a CMDA member. Unfortunately, even this modest proposal failed.
But, what does the National Abortion Federation have to say about this bill? They said they strongly opposed the "so-called 'Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act' ". They lamented the fact the Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Minnesota law makers have already passed similar bills. The National Abortion Federation is a professional organization specifically for people who perform abortions. In fact, they perform over half of the abortions in the country each year. Do you think they have a strong and vital interest in keeping women in the dark about the pain their choice is going to put their unborn child through?
Maybe you don't want to get involved in the politics of abortion. That's fine, but consider going through your next surgery without anesthesia. It's not about politics, it's about life and a torturous death.