Fetuses feel pain, doctor testifies
Government presents witnesses in abortion-procedure lawsuit
Thursday, April 8, 2004 Posted: 11:46 AM EDT (1546 GMT)
LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- A type of abortion banned under a new federal law would cause "severe and excruciating" pain to 20-week-old fetuses, a medical expert on pain testified Tuesday.
"I believe the fetus is conscious," said Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a pediatrician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He took the stand as a government witness in a trial challenging the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The act, which was signed by President Bush in November, has not been enforced because judges in Lincoln, Neb., New York and San Francisco agreed to hear evidence in three simultaneous, non-jury trials on whether the ban violates the Constitution.
Anand said fetuses show increased heart rate, blood flow and hormone levels in response to pain.
"The physiological responses have been very clearly studied," he said. "The fetus cannot talk ... so this is the best evidence we can get."
The Bush administration has argued that the procedure, referred to by opponents as "partial-birth abortion," is "inhumane and gruesome" and causes the fetus to suffer pain.
During the procedure, which doctors call "intact dilation and extraction" or D&X, a fetus is partially removed from the womb and its skull is punctured. It is generally performed in the second trimester.
Abortion rights advocates argue that it is sometimes the safest procedure for women, and that the law will endanger almost all second-trimester abortions, or 10 percent of the nation's 1.3 million annual abortions.
The law would be the first substantial limitation on abortion since the Supreme Court legalized it 31 years ago in the landmark case Roe v. Wade.
Challenges to the ban were filed by several doctors being represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the National Abortion Federation and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The issue is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
cnn.com
Blackmun was initially displeased to be given the assignment of writing the majority opinion for Roe v. Wade. In an early draft, Blackmun outlined his thought: "The right to privacy as exemplified in the decided cases here. This is broad enough to encompass the decision whether to terminate a pregnancy . . . . But, despite the arguments, <font color=red>THE RIGHT IS NOT ABSOLUTE. THERE IS A POINT AT WHICH ANOTHER INTEREST IS INVOLVED -- LIFE OR THE POTENTIAL OF LIFE . . . .</font> I avoid any determination as to when life begins. Therefore, a balancing of interest." Those random thoughts actually provided the structure for Blackmun's argument in the Roe decision.
worldmagblog.com
US Abortions
Annual Average
First Trimester - ~1,157,000 89%
Second Trimester - ~130,000 10%
Third Trimester - ~13,000 1%
Annual Average ~1,300,000 100%
aclife.org
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John F. Kerry [paraphrased]: I am pprivately against even the hint of abortion but I am publicly for the absolute right of abortion.
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