Legislators in Montana are moving on two of National Right to Life’s highest legislatives priorities.
The Montana Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is modeled on NRLC’s proposed legislation. The bill, if enacted, would protect infants from abortion when they have reached the point where they are pain-capable.
HB 500 passed the House on March 29th (59-39) and on Thursday passed the Senate Judiciary Committee (6-4).
Phil Drake, writing for the Great Falls Tribune, wrote about state Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about her proposal, House Bill 500.
“The mother of six,” he wrote, “said she could feel the life in her womb before each child took their first breath and that ‘science can prove that a child in the fetal stage can feel pain.’”
Matt Brower, executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference urged the committee to pass the bill. ““Unborn (children) are the most vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family and they deserve protection,” he said.
The contribution of SK Rossi of the ACLU of Montana, was to describe the ban at 20 weeks as an “arbitrary marker.”
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Meanwhile, State Sen. Albert Olszewski, an orthopedic surgeon, is carrying the Montana Born-Alive Infant Protection Act.
“There is a national debate attempting to legitimize the intentional killing of a baby born alive if the medical provider and the parents deem or decide that it is necessary or should happen,” Olszewski told the Senate Judiciary committee last week,” reported The Independent Record’s Holly K. Michels. “He said his bill was Montana’s answer to the debate of ‘legal infanticide.’”
The measure passed the Senate last week 30-19.
Pro-abortionists say “say it is unnecessary and meant to spark outrage,” Michels reported.
“State law is not enough, Olszewski said, because it isn’t clear about extending protections to all live births, regardless of if the birth is premature because of an abortion,” Michels added. “He also said his bill would clarify protections to children who are born with disabilities.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
