Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act introduced

Published: 2004-06-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A bill has been introduced in Congress that would give women considering an abortion information on fetal pain and offer them the opportunity to have anesthesia administered to the unborn child to be aborted. The bill also would direct the federal Department of Health and Human Services to prepare a brochure on fetal pain, which would be distributed at abortion clinics. The bill, introduced in the House by Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., has 51 co-sponsors. The Senate version, introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has 23 co-sponsors. "The question isn't whether unborn babies suffer pain during an abortion, but how much," Smith said at a June 22 press conference on Capitol Hill announcing the bill. If passed, the bill would apply to any woman who is 20 or more weeks' pregnant.

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