Posted on 03/30/2014 11:24:18 AM PDT by Morgana
Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, who describes himself as pro-life and campaigned as a pro-life candidate, has vetoed a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
West Virginians for Life, the statewide pro-life group, tells LifeNews it is disappointed in Governor Tomblin’s veto of HB 4588, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Similar bills have been passed in ten other states and Governor Tomblin is the only governor who has vetoed one of these bills.
fetalpain2In his veto message, the Governor claimed that attorneys advised him the bill was unconstitutional. Many cite an Arizona law as proof, however, according to Mary Balch, J,D., National Right to Life Director of State Legislation, “Arizona’s ‘Mother’s Health and Safety Act,’ a law which banned abortion after 20 weeks last menstrual period is not the same as West Virginia’s Pain-Capable Fetus Protection Act.
“West Virginia’s Pain-Capable Fetus Protection Act protects children from abortion beginning at 20 weeks fetal age, based on scientific evidence that by this stage of development the child would experience excruciating pain. Arizona’s law, as its name implies, focused on protecting the health and safety of the mother,” Balch explained.
“The Governor has placed himself in a minority position on this bill,” said West Virginians for Life (WVFL) President Wanda Franz, Ph.D.
Franz said that, according to a February/March 2013 The Polling Company, Inc. poll, only 12% of the American public believe abortion should be allowed for any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy. A poll by the same company in July of 2012, found that 70% of women said that abortion should not be allowed from the point that the baby feels pain.
WVFL Legislative Coordinator John Carey added, “We expect a groundswell of support leading up to the 2015 session. Furthermore,” he said, “nothing the Governor has done has changed the fact that there is a substantial body of scientific evidence that unborn babies from 20 weeks and older feel pain.”
ACTION: Contact Governor Tombin at http://www.governor.wv.gov/pages/contact.aspx
The states that have passed Pain-Capable bills include Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, and Texas. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 1797) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on June 18, 2013, by 228-196. All three members of the West Virginia congressional delegation voted for that bill.
A National Right to Life Committee poll found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support a ban on post-fetal pain abortion. The same poll also found that American women, by an overwhelming majority of 62-27 percent, would be more likely to vote for lawmakers who support this bill.
The bill relies on the science of fetal pain to establish a Constitutional reason for Congress to ban abortions late in pregnancy. The science behind the concept of fetal pain is fully established and Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for it.
He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier” and that a baby before birth “under the right circumstances, is capable of crying.”
He and his colleagues Dr. Vincent J. Collins and Thomas J. Marzen were the top researchers to point to fetal pain decades ago. Collins, before his death, was Professor of Anesthesiology at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois and author of Principles of Anesthesiology, one of the leading medical texts on the control of pain.
“The functioning neurological structures necessary to suffer pain are developed early in a child’s development in the womb,” they wrote.
“Functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13 1/2 weeks of gestation. Sensory nerves, including nociceptors, reach the skin of the fetus before the 9th week of gestation. The first detectable brain activity occurs in the thalamus between the 8th and 10th weeks. The movement of electrical impulses through the neural fibers and spinal column takes place between 8 and 9 weeks gestation. By 13 1/2 weeks, the entire sensory nervous system functions as a whole in all parts of the body,” they continued.
With Zielinski and his colleagues the first to provide the scientific basis for the concept of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas Medical Center has provided further research to substantiate their work.
“The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies,” explains Steven Calvin, M.D., perinatologist, chair of the Program in Human Rights Medicine, University of Minnesota, where he teaches obstetrics.
Dr. Colleen A. Malloy, Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology at Northwestern University in her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2012 said, “[w]hen we speak of infants at 22 weeks LMP [Note: this is 20 weeks post fertilization], for example, we no longer have to rely solely on inferences or ultrasound imagery, because such premature patients are kicking, moving, reacting, and developing right before our eyes in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”
“In today’s medical arena, we resuscitate patients at this age and are able to witness their ex-utero growth and development. Medical advancement and technology have enabled us to improve our ability to care for these infants…In fact, standard of care for neonatal intensive care units requires attention to and treatment of neonatal pain,” Dr. Malloy testified. She continued, “[t]hus, the difference between fetal and neonatal pain is simply the locale in which the pain occurs. The receiver’s experience of the pain is the same. I could never imagine subjecting my tiny patients to horrific procedures such as those that involve limb detachment or cardiac injection.”
Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, has testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.
As long as the blue collar worker of WV believe the lies of demoncrats, nothing will change. And long as people believe the whispers of the devils suggestions about abortions nothing will change for it seems that people will believe the lie over the truth.
“When are people gonna learn that there is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat?”
Yup.
It also kinda does not help that we have no cooperation from area churches on matters of pro life issues.
The city of Albuquerque NM voted on an initiative to outlaw late term abortions last December.
The Republican governor, Susana Martinez, who claims to be pro-life, refused to publicly endorse the law.
Her reason?
She said it was not appropriate for the governor to become involved in a “local” issue.
The initiative lost 55%-45%.
Um, refused to endorse? That means she’s not pro-life? Sounds more like a jurisdictional issue.
there has to be more to this.
I wonder if this was a poison pill legislation.
A bill that would never has stood a court test but guaranteed to piss off the one issue low info pro-life/anti-abortion voters.
how about changing the argument. If you have a child your federal tax rate is reduced by 25%. Thus if you rate is 20% it will drop down to 15% and continues to drop 25% for each child.
The fact that Governor Martinez has never proposed or endorsed a STATE ban on LATE TERM abortions tells us exactly where she stands on the issue.
bump
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