West Virginia Legislature Passes Bill Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 10, 2014   |   12:54PM   |   Charleston, WV

The West Virginia has approved a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and the measure is now headed to the governor for a signature. The bill now sits on the desk of Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, who describes himself as pro-life.

West Virginians for Life (WVFL) is pleased to report that the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, HB 4588, passed in the West Virginia Senate on the final day of the session, Saturday, March 8, by a vote of 29-5. The Senate approved an amended version of the bill, which had been passed earlier by the House of Delegates. The House had to concur with the Senate changes before final passage, 83-15.

fetalpain2As the pro-life group informed LifeNews, on February 11 a Motion to Discharge the committee was brought by House Minority Leader, Delegate Tim Armstead, on the same day as the annual Pro-Life Rally & Day at the Legislature. While galleries full of pro-life constituents watched, the vote ended in a 48-48 loss. Two Democrats crossed party lines to support the discharge of the bill: Delegates Rick Moye and Jeff Eldridge. However, the very next day, the bill was revived and eventually passed the House overwhelmingly by a 79-17 margin.

“The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will protect West Virginia’s unborn babies, who can feel pain, and asserts a compelling state interest in protecting the unborn child from pain. Scientific research demonstrates that unborn babies can feel pain beginning by at least 20 weeks after conception. “It is important that West Virginia has asserted its legitimate concern for the well-being of these innocent babies by protecting them from pain,” said Wanda Franz, President of WVFL.

West Virginia will now join eight states where the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act went into effect without being challenged in the Courts. In two states, the law has been enjoined and challenged in state courts.

“West Virginia will soon become the latest state to pass legislation to protect unborn children from the painful death of abortion after 20 weeks – more than halfway through pregnancy,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Momentum is growing for this popular measure to move forward in Washington as well, where Senate Democrats should take a cue from their West Virginia counterparts. We encourage Senator Joe Manchin to embrace his self-avowed pro-life position and become the first Democratic cosponsor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. If Majority Leader Reid, who has also called himself pro-life in the past, intends to make good on his promise to ‘take a look’ at this compassionate measure, now is the time. The majority of Americans – and women in even higher numbers than men – support this law.”

“This legislation will protect West Virginia’s unborn babies who can feel pain from a gruesome death by dismemberment or other horrific late abortion techniques. Substantial medical evidence demonstrates the baby’s ability to feel pain is present by 20 weeks of life,” says Karen Cross of National Right to Life. “We know that pro-life legislation saves lives. We know that every year legislators don’t pass pro-life legislation means that precious little babies die.”

A National Right to Life Committee poll found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support a ban on post-fetal pain abortion. The same poll also found that American women, by an overwhelming majority of 62-27 percent, would be more likely to vote for lawmakers who support this bill.

The bill relies on the science of fetal pain to establish a Constitutional reason for Congress to ban abortions late in pregnancy. The science behind the concept of fetal pain is fully established and Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for it.

He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier” and that a baby before birth “under the right circumstances, is capable of crying.”

He and his colleagues Dr. Vincent J. Collins and Thomas J. Marzen  were the top researchers to point to fetal pain decades ago. Collins, before his death, was Professor of Anesthesiology at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois and author of Principles of Anesthesiology, one of the leading medical texts on the control of pain.

“The functioning neurological structures necessary to suffer pain are developed early in a child’s development in the womb,” they wrote.

“Functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13 1/2 weeks of gestation. Sensory nerves, including nociceptors, reach the skin of the fetus before the 9th week of gestation. The first detectable brain activity occurs in the thalamus between the 8th and 10th weeks. The movement of electrical impulses through the neural fibers and spinal column takes place between 8 and 9 weeks gestation. By 13 1/2 weeks, the entire sensory nervous system functions as a whole in all parts of the body,” they continued.

With Zielinski and his colleagues the first to provide the scientific basis for the concept of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas Medical Center has provided further research to substantiate their work.

“The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies,” explains Steven Calvin, M.D., perinatologist, chair of the Program in Human Rights Medicine, University of Minnesota, where he teaches obstetrics.

Dr. Colleen A. Malloy, Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology at Northwestern University in her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2012 said, “[w]hen we speak of infants at 22 weeks LMP [Note: this is 20 weeks post fertilization], for example, we no longer have to rely solely on inferences or ultrasound imagery, because such premature patients are kicking, moving, reacting, and developing right before our eyes in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”

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“In today’s medical arena, we resuscitate patients at this age and are able to witness their ex-utero growth and development. Medical advancement and technology have enabled us to improve our ability to care for these infants…In fact, standard of care for neonatal intensive care units requires attention to and treatment of neonatal pain,” Dr. Malloy testified. She continued, “[t]hus, the difference between fetal and neonatal pain is simply the locale in which the pain occurs. The receiver’s experience of the pain is the same. I could never imagine subjecting my tiny patients to horrific procedures such as those that involve limb detachment or cardiac injection.”

Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, has testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.