Pro-Life Group: Partial-Birth Abortion Decision Shows Need for Fetal Pain Bill

Unborn children feel pain during the abortion.
Steven Ertelt
September 2, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A leading pro-life organization says that the recent decision by a federal judge in New York calling the ban on partial-birth abortions unconstitutional points to the need for a bill to help women considering abortion understand the pain such abortions cause unborn children.

The National Right to Life Committee sent a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday urging them to support the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 4420).

“[E]very day in the United States unborn children are subjected to trauma that causes them excruciating pain, and that would be illegal if inflicted on animals in commerce or research,” the letter says.

When a woman is considering an abortion “20 weeks after fertilization,” abortion practitioners are required to provide women with information about the pain an unborn child experiences during an abortion.

The woman can then request that the unborn child be given pain medication prior to the abortion, the letter explains.

Read the entire article on LifeNews.com.

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Where We Begin

A reader submitted:

In protecting human life we must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any innocent human life.

Some today are fond of saying that we have to consider “a wide range of issues” when we vote — which is true as far as it goes — but then go farther and say that all the issues are of equal weight — which is not only false, but offensive to common sense.

Take, for example, the “scorecard” that that is periodically put together by lawmakers, summarizing their voting record on a variety of issues and then giving each a score. There’s no problem, of course, in reviewing and summarizing how public officials vote. In fact, the public deserves more of that information. The big problem with the scorecard, however, is that all the issues are assigned equal weight, so that no distinction is made between the importance of banning partial-birth abortion and the regulation of mercury levels in thermometers.
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Planned Parenthood Defends “I Had an Abortion” Shirts Despite Backlash

Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com
July 30, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Criticism from pro-life groups, women who have had abortions, and even from their own local affiliates hasn’t stopped the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from selling t-shirts with the slogan, “I Had an Abortion.”

In a statement responding to the national outrage, PPFA president Glora Feldt, says, “The shirt is not a cavalier statement, but a way to challenge the silence and shame around an experience many women have shared, however difficult that decision may have been.”

Feldt blames pro-life groups for making it necessary to sell the t-shirt.

“One in three American women will have an abortion before the age of 45, and anti-choice extremists are doing everything they can to turn that choice into a scarlet letter, and ultimately to criminalize this option,” Feldt explains.

“In that effort, some anti-choice activists have publicly disclosed that they had an abortion, only to cast this option in shame,” Feldt added.
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A Life and Death Document from Britain

Bishops’ Text Takes On Bioethical and Family Issues

LONDON, JUNE 12, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales recently published a lengthy document on bioethical and family issues, called “Cherishing Life.” At the May 26 press conference that launched the document, Bishop Christopher Budd of Plymouth, one of the text’s writers, said: “The multiplicity of issues underlines the complexity of living in our present world.”

He noted: “The clear articulation of principles and values seeks to show the importance of a principled approach to moral questions.”
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Federal Judge Says Women’s Right to Abortion Trumps Unborns’ Pain

Ban on Partial-Birth Abortion Ruled Unconstitutional
San Francisco Ruling a Defeat for Pro-Lifers
Optimism Remains for Other Two Court Challenges to PABA
By Jody Brown and Chad Groening
June 2, 2004

(AgapePress) – Pro-life advocates and Christian groups nationwide are reacting strongly to a liberal San Francisco federal judge’s declaration that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (PABA) — signed into law in November but tied up in court ever since — is unconstitutional. Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled on Tuesday that a woman’s right to have an abortion is paramount, and that it’s “irrelevant” whether the unborn child suffers pain in the process.
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Abortion soars in quest for perfect babies

Daily Mail
Sun May 6, 2004 23:30:03 ET

Those with conditions that can usually be corrected medically – such as deformed feet and cleft lips and palates – are instead being terminated.

And the number of abortions of Down’s syndrome babies now outstrips live births, despite the fact that those with the condition can live a long and fulfilling life. As screening techniques improve, the trend is likely to grow – horrifying pro-life campaigners.
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