Moral Outcry

Last week, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into law, banning abortions at and after 20 weeks.

The pro-abortion community went into an uproar, declaring that there is no research to back up the claim that a "fetus" can even feel pain:

"There is certainly no solid scientific evidence establishing that a fetus can perceive pain at these earlier stages, so any court decisions to uphold such broader laws could only do so by disregarding the importance of good scientific evidence," said Caitlin Borgmann, a law professor at The City University of New York.

This, of course, is not true.

In 1973, when Roe was decided, it was believed that the nervous systems of even newborn babies were too immature to feel pain -- so doctors generally did not provide anesthesia to infants before surgery. But 25 years ago, a young doctor at Oxford University named Kanwaljeet Anand noticed that babies coming to his neonatal intensive care unit from surgery suffered a massive stress response -- indicating they had been through extreme pain. His research into this phenomenon shifted medical opinion, and today even the most premature newborns are given anesthesia to alleviate pain during surgery.

Anand -- now a professor at the University of Arkansas and a pediatrician at the Arkansas Children's Hospital -- continued his research into infant pain, which has led him to conclude that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks, and possibly as early as 17 weeks when a portion of the brain called the "subplate zone" is formed. Indeed, according to a New York Times Magazine story on Anand's research, a fetus's "immature physiology may well make it more sensitive to pain, not less: The body's mechanisms for inhibiting pain and making it more bearable do not become active until after birth."

Other medical experts share Anand's assessment. Jean Wright, executive director and vice president of operations for Children's Hospital and the Women's Health Institute at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., has testified before Congress that an "unborn fetus after 20 weeks of gestation, has all the prerequisite anatomy, physiology, hormones, neurotransmitters, and electrical current to 'close the loop' and create the conditions needed to perceive pain. In a fashion similar to explaining the electrical wiring to a new house, we would explain that the circuit is complete from skin to brain and back."

Not everyone in the medical community agrees. Just as there were skeptics about newborn pain a quarter-century ago, there are skeptics of fetal pain today -- and these views will be aired as the legal battle unfolds. But regardless of the legal outcome, a national discussion on the topic of "fetal pain" can only help the pro-life movement.

(source - The Washington Post)

The only strategy the pro-abortion side knows is a campaign of misinformation and mind numbing misdirection. But running from truth and facts can only last so long before people start asking question. And these questions are what NARAL, Planned Parenthood and the like are trying desperately to avoid.

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