Americans love their reality TV, but when it comes to the reality of what happens in the country’s abortion clinics, they tune out. While the clinics may not all be as filthy as Kermit Gosnell’s, the reality of what happens there is still the same: babies born alive die painful and violent deaths.
No one really knows how many children are killed by barbarians like Gosnell and Douglas Karpen, a Texas abortionist so sadistic that employees say he broke the necks of newborns with his bare hands. But what we do know from the testimony of experts is that every baby whose life is ended by abortion after 18 weeks–whether in the womb or in the abortion room–feels the pain of death.
Studies agree that babies respond to invasive procedures with elevated heart rates and the secretion of stress hormones. In other words, these little children can feel pain just as easily as they can yawn or smile.
Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, who 30 years ago became one of the first to research fetal pain, has testified that nerve endings in a developing child spread to all parts of the skin and tissues by the 20th week. Some scientists even believe that babies at this stage can feel pain more acutely than a full-term newborn. Why? Because they have the highest number of pain receptors per square inch at this stage, and the fibers that help moderate that pain don’t develop until the 32nd week.
“If the fetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus,” Dr. Anand explained. “And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain.”
With the images of Gosnell’s victims still fresh in everyone’s minds, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) hopes more Americans are ready to put an end to this suffering.
“I know when the subject is related in any way to abortion, the doors of reason and human compassion in our minds and hearts often close, and the humanity of the unborn can no longer be seen,” he said. “But I pray we can at least come together to agree that we can and should draw the line at the point that these innocent babies can feel the excruciating pain of these brutal procedures.”
Franks, who led the charge for the D.C. Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, announced Friday that he’s expanding his bill to a nationwide ban on abortions past 20 weeks.
The Unborn Child Protection Act, or H.R. 1797, will be debated this Thursday at a hearing of the House Judiciary. Congressman Franks, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, hopes the time is right to start pricking America’s conscience. After all, even criminals are executed more humanely than unborn babies.
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“Knowingly subjecting our innocent unborn children to dismemberment in the womb, particularly when they have developed to the point that they can feel excruciating pain every terrible moment leading up to their undeserved deaths, belies everything America was called to be. This is not who we are.”
Tomorrow, FRC will help expose this underground web of Gosnells in a new simulcast with Lila Rose called, “Inhuman: Undercover in America’s Late-Term Abortion Industry.” Congressmen Franks and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) will join us for the program to help spotlight the shocking violence against women and children. Join us tomorrow, May 21, at 5:00 p.m. (EDT) as we take a trip behind the dark curtain of the abortion industry. To register to view the webcast online, click here.
ifeNews Note: Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council.
