The Pain of Abortion; Compassionate Legislation

As the mid-term elections draw closer, President Biden and his cohorts are trying to make abortion a central issue in the campaigns.  Sadly, they have been misrepresenting the pro-life stance.  After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a main thrust of the debate has been on the pain felt by the fetus.  For decades, pro-abortion groups have tried to argue that the fetus is not viable until the integration of the nervous system.  Also, the fetus cannot feel pain until this point in development.  Science and bioethics have discredited this argument.  Bioethicists Shannon and Kockler have written that there are three main stages in nervous system development; 3 weeks, 12 weeks, and 20 weeks.  It seems that pain can be felt by the fetus early in the pregnancy.

It is this issue that has prompted several proposed pieces of legislation.  Senator Lindsey Graham has argued that at 15 weeks, when the baby can feel pain, you provide anesthesia to save its life. If you operate on it, it should be protected from being dismembered by an abortionist. That puts us in line with France, Germany, Great Britain. They all have abortion bans below 15 weeks. 

Previously, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, according to Live Action, has introduced two pro-life bills in the House of Representatives that aim to protect babies born alive after botched abortions and pain-capable preborn babies.  the first bill, H.R. 8939, would ban late-term abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the point at which the baby can feel pain. The second bill, H.R. 8923, would alter Title 18 of the United States Code “to ensure a health care practitioner exercises the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”  Although Gabbard has previously opposed similar pro-life bills to these, her presidential run in 2020 was largely shot down over her more moderate stance and support of certain restrictions on abortion compared to her more radically pro-abortion fellow candidates.

“The first bill is the ‘Late Term Abortion Ban’ bill, banning late-term abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless the mother is at risk of losing her life or faces severe, irreversible health consequences if an abortion is not performed,” Gabbard explained in a statement to The Blaze. “There was a bill previously introduced entitled the Pain Capable Unborn Child Act that I felt that I needed to oppose because it did not include an exception for severe irreversible health consequences. My legislation includes that exception.”

“The second is the ‘Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act, a pro-life bill to protect abortion survivors. The bill would "ensure a health care practitioner exercises the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion." “If a late-term abortion is attempted and the baby is born alive, physicians must follow the same procedures that they would in any case of premature birth. The genesis of this bill came from seeing the infanticide bills introduced in Virginia and New York, how they would make it easier to get a late-term abortion, and if the baby is born alive, they would make the baby comfortable and then allow the baby to die.”

Pain felt by the fetus, as Graham and Gabbard have argued and are supported by science, is still a debated issue.  Pro-abortionists claim the pain is misrepresented and exaggerated.  However, this seems to have been discredited decades ago.  In 1984, a short documentary called “The Silent Scream” was produced.  The film presented the abortion of a 13-week fetus, as visualized on an ultrasound screen. The film was scripted and directed  by Executive Producer Donald S. Smith. the owner of the firm. Working closely with Smith was Jack Duane Dabner, a free-lance film producer.

The main character in the film was ex-abortionist Dr, Bernard N. Nathanson, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist.  He also owned and provided the ultrasound videotape featured in the film. In his presentation, Nathanson covered human gestation generally, then gave a step-by-step description of the suction aspiration abortion being shown on the ultrasound screen.  Before the end of the year The Silent Scream film was completed. Both high-quality videotapes and 16-mm prints were produced. The Silent Scream was immediately popular in the pro-life movement, and it came to the attention of President Ronald Reagan.

In the 1985 March for Life in Washington, DC on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, President Reagan spoke to the crowd through loud speakers. He referred to The Silent Scream film, and said that he hoped and prayed that it would be watched by every federal legislator. 

This documentary shows the pain a fetus can endure with some, if not all, abortions.  It is graphic and powerful.  It is the beginning of the noble and compassionate arguments that are reflected in the actions of Legislators, such as Graham and Gabbard.  Let us join President Reagan in the hope and prayer he articulated so that our Legislators will stop the war on the unborn.