Good News on the Pro-Life Front: Several Steps in the Right Direction
But only another step, like the "partial birth abortion" ban. I can also guarentee you that it will face a slew of court challenges as well. Between this & the upcoming "personhood amendment" votes in several states, Roe v Wade is being shown to be what it really is, an attack on life, not defending a woman's right to privacy.
Breaking: First-Ever Abortion Ban Based on Fetal Pain Passes in Nebraska
By Peter J. Smith
Updated: 7:16pm EST, 04/13/10
OMAHA, Nebraska, April 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law today another landmark bill banning abortion after 20 weeks gestation, on the basis that an unborn child feels pain at that age. Just hours before, the Nebraska legislature had passed the legislation, the first of its kind in the United States. Pro-life advocates believe it could pose a direct and historic challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that deprived the states the power to regulate or restrict abortion.
The “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (LB 1103), authored by Speaker Mike Flood, was approved Tuesday in the Unicameral on the third and final reading of the bill, by an overwhelming pro-life majority of 44 in favor and 5 against. The governor wasted no time in signing the measure into law.
The law portends a fresh challenge and new look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton cases, which led to the virtual legalization of abortion on demand. The Nebraska law applies a different standard – that of the unborn child’s ability to feel pain - for restricting abortion, while the high court used the standard of what they then considered to be point of fetal viability.
"The Nebraska Legislature took a bold step today which should ratchet up the abortion debate across America," said Julie Schmit-Albin, Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life in a statement.
"LB 1103 creates a case of first impression for the courts to acknowledge the capability to feel pain as a compelling state interest to protect those unborn babies from an excruciatingly painful death.”
The legislation bans abortions after 20 weeks of post-fertilization age except in two cases: first, when the pregnancy puts the mother in danger of death or “substantial and irreversible” physical harm to a major bodily function. The second exception allows an abortionist to perform an abortion in order to increase the probability of a live birth, or to preserve an unborn child’s life and health after a live birth.
Although the topic of fetal pain is still under much discussion (and controversy, owing to its implications to the abortion debate) a growing consensus of medical knowledge has pointed to the fact that unborn infants experience pain by 20 weeks and possibly earlier.
Kanwaljeet “Sunny” Anand, a pioneer in the study of fetal pain and now a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, testified in 2004 on the federal partial birth abortion ban that after 20 weeks gestation, an unborn child would experience “severe and excruciating pain” from an abortion.
The pain may even be more acute than it would be for older humans, as some research indicates their immature nervous systems have not developed coping mechanisms that help the body better endure pain.
The law notes that unborn children have been observed to “seek to evade certain stimuli” in a manner that “would be interpreted as a response to pain.” Additionally, the bill says unborn children exhibit “hormonal stress responses to painful stimuli” that were reduced with the application of pain medication.
Abortionists who break the law would face a Class IV felony charge, which carries a penalty of a five year maximum prison sentence, $10,000 fine, or both. Women who obtain abortions of their unborn children would face no criminal penalties.
The bill would allow women and even the fathers of aborted unborn children to sue and seek damages from abortionists who violate the law.
The law goes into operation on October 15, 2010.
Updated: 7:16pm EST, 04/13/10
OMAHA, Nebraska, April 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law today another landmark bill banning abortion after 20 weeks gestation, on the basis that an unborn child feels pain at that age. Just hours before, the Nebraska legislature had passed the legislation, the first of its kind in the United States. Pro-life advocates believe it could pose a direct and historic challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that deprived the states the power to regulate or restrict abortion.
The “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (LB 1103), authored by Speaker Mike Flood, was approved Tuesday in the Unicameral on the third and final reading of the bill, by an overwhelming pro-life majority of 44 in favor and 5 against. The governor wasted no time in signing the measure into law.
The law portends a fresh challenge and new look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton cases, which led to the virtual legalization of abortion on demand. The Nebraska law applies a different standard – that of the unborn child’s ability to feel pain - for restricting abortion, while the high court used the standard of what they then considered to be point of fetal viability.
"The Nebraska Legislature took a bold step today which should ratchet up the abortion debate across America," said Julie Schmit-Albin, Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life in a statement.
"LB 1103 creates a case of first impression for the courts to acknowledge the capability to feel pain as a compelling state interest to protect those unborn babies from an excruciatingly painful death.”
The legislation bans abortions after 20 weeks of post-fertilization age except in two cases: first, when the pregnancy puts the mother in danger of death or “substantial and irreversible” physical harm to a major bodily function. The second exception allows an abortionist to perform an abortion in order to increase the probability of a live birth, or to preserve an unborn child’s life and health after a live birth.
Although the topic of fetal pain is still under much discussion (and controversy, owing to its implications to the abortion debate) a growing consensus of medical knowledge has pointed to the fact that unborn infants experience pain by 20 weeks and possibly earlier.
Kanwaljeet “Sunny” Anand, a pioneer in the study of fetal pain and now a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, testified in 2004 on the federal partial birth abortion ban that after 20 weeks gestation, an unborn child would experience “severe and excruciating pain” from an abortion.
The pain may even be more acute than it would be for older humans, as some research indicates their immature nervous systems have not developed coping mechanisms that help the body better endure pain.
The law notes that unborn children have been observed to “seek to evade certain stimuli” in a manner that “would be interpreted as a response to pain.” Additionally, the bill says unborn children exhibit “hormonal stress responses to painful stimuli” that were reduced with the application of pain medication.
Abortionists who break the law would face a Class IV felony charge, which carries a penalty of a five year maximum prison sentence, $10,000 fine, or both. Women who obtain abortions of their unborn children would face no criminal penalties.
The bill would allow women and even the fathers of aborted unborn children to sue and seek damages from abortionists who violate the law.
The law goes into operation on October 15, 2010.
But that is not all that occured in Nebraska today. As the above article points out, this was only part of a 1-2 punch by the state legislature*. I predict this will end up in the Supreme Court as well. Add to this the fact that the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to exercise its right to opt the state out of the abortion mandate in the new national health care reform law, the Kansas Late-Term Abortion Bill & the aforementioned actions in various states to pass a personhood amendment, there are some rays of hope in the current darkness of the passage of ObamaCare. But, the "culture of death" will NOT let these things go unopposed as I said. All the more reason we need to continue praying, repenting of our nation's sins against life, including the sin of artificial contraception & speaking & acting as God leads us. & as I said, these are merely steps in the right direction, NOT an excuse to stop fighting.
Law directly criticizes Roe v. Wade for “removing the protection afforded the unborn.”
By Peter J. Smith
Updated 5:49pm EST
OMAHA, Nebraska, April 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nebraska lawmakers have enacted landmark legislation that requires abortionists to prescreen thoroughly women seeking an abortion for potential physical and mental health problems, or face civil lawsuits from women harmed by their failure to obey the law.
Nebraska Senators voted Monday to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (LB 594) on the third reading of the bill by a 40-9 vote. The bill was then sent to the desk of Gov. Dave Heineman, who today signed the historic measure into law along with another historic pro-life bill banning abortion after 20 weeks on the basis of fetal pain. (see coverage here.)
Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing, the bill’s main sponsor, argued the legislation was necessary to ensure that abortion facilities were following the same standards of care as other medical procedures and to guarantee that women were making a truly free and informed decision without outside pressure or coercion before consenting to an abortion.
Pro-life leaders and post-abortive women with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign praised Nebraska lawmakers for enacting these new legal protections for women against abortionists.
“Women like me only wish that a law like the Women's Health Protection Act had been in place before we had abortions," said Georgette Forney, co-founder of the SNMAC in a statement. "The women of Silent No More know that the risks of abortion are all too real and that the pressures from fearful boyfriends, embarrassed parents, and demanding employers can render the word 'choice' meaningless.
"The Nebraska legislature has done immeasurable good by passing this legislation."
The law mandates that abortionists tell a woman 24 hours in advance of abortion all the risks associated with abortion, that no one can make her have an abortion, and that she can withdraw her consent at any time.
In addition, the new law requires that at least one hour before the abortion a qualified physician or mental health professional perform an assessment to determine whether the pregnant woman “perceived” she was being pressured into having the abortion, and evaluate the "physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational" risk factors cited by peer-reviewed medical journals.
They would then have to write down a checklist of negative and positive risk factors, discuss them with the woman, and submit them in writing to the abortionist performing the procedure.
Women would have to sign a document stating that they went through the screening and have been fully informed of any risks noted by the screening medical professional before going through with the abortion.
The legislation makes repeated criticisms of the U.S. Supreme Court for its Roe v. Wade decision, explaining that the legislation is a response to “the legislative intrusion of the United States Supreme Court … removing the protection afforded the unborn,” and that if they had the power to do so, they would do more.
It adds that the law is “in no way to be construed as legislatively encouraging abortions at any stage of unborn human development, but are rather an expression of the will of the people of the State of Nebraska and the members of the Legislature to provide protection for the life of the unborn child whenever possible.”
Ann Marie Bowen, president of Nebraskans United for Life (NUL) told LifeSiteNews.com that the original legislation “was intended to have a 24-hour waiting for the screening of these possibilities” of health complications, before it was amended on the floor to a one hour wait. “That is, I think, one disappointment in the law,” Bowen said. However she said NUL is overall pleased with the passage of the law for giving more protections to abortion-bound women, whose decisions could be effected by abortionists failing to screen properly for mental or physical health complications that may arise from the procedure.
“We believe that this is a protection for her, and she will have every right to go to court, and take the abortionist to court if she should suffer because of the lack of screening and lack of care for the woman.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Nebraska Advances Bill Requiring Mental Health Screenings Before Abortion
Nebraska Senators voted Monday to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (LB 594) on the third reading of the bill by a 40-9 vote. The bill was then sent to the desk of Gov. Dave Heineman, who today signed the historic measure into law along with another historic pro-life bill banning abortion after 20 weeks on the basis of fetal pain. (see coverage here.)
Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing, the bill’s main sponsor, argued the legislation was necessary to ensure that abortion facilities were following the same standards of care as other medical procedures and to guarantee that women were making a truly free and informed decision without outside pressure or coercion before consenting to an abortion.
Pro-life leaders and post-abortive women with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign praised Nebraska lawmakers for enacting these new legal protections for women against abortionists.
“Women like me only wish that a law like the Women's Health Protection Act had been in place before we had abortions," said Georgette Forney, co-founder of the SNMAC in a statement. "The women of Silent No More know that the risks of abortion are all too real and that the pressures from fearful boyfriends, embarrassed parents, and demanding employers can render the word 'choice' meaningless.
"The Nebraska legislature has done immeasurable good by passing this legislation."
The law mandates that abortionists tell a woman 24 hours in advance of abortion all the risks associated with abortion, that no one can make her have an abortion, and that she can withdraw her consent at any time.
In addition, the new law requires that at least one hour before the abortion a qualified physician or mental health professional perform an assessment to determine whether the pregnant woman “perceived” she was being pressured into having the abortion, and evaluate the "physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational" risk factors cited by peer-reviewed medical journals.
They would then have to write down a checklist of negative and positive risk factors, discuss them with the woman, and submit them in writing to the abortionist performing the procedure.
Women would have to sign a document stating that they went through the screening and have been fully informed of any risks noted by the screening medical professional before going through with the abortion.
The legislation makes repeated criticisms of the U.S. Supreme Court for its Roe v. Wade decision, explaining that the legislation is a response to “the legislative intrusion of the United States Supreme Court … removing the protection afforded the unborn,” and that if they had the power to do so, they would do more.
It adds that the law is “in no way to be construed as legislatively encouraging abortions at any stage of unborn human development, but are rather an expression of the will of the people of the State of Nebraska and the members of the Legislature to provide protection for the life of the unborn child whenever possible.”
Ann Marie Bowen, president of Nebraskans United for Life (NUL) told LifeSiteNews.com that the original legislation “was intended to have a 24-hour waiting for the screening of these possibilities” of health complications, before it was amended on the floor to a one hour wait. “That is, I think, one disappointment in the law,” Bowen said. However she said NUL is overall pleased with the passage of the law for giving more protections to abortion-bound women, whose decisions could be effected by abortionists failing to screen properly for mental or physical health complications that may arise from the procedure.
“We believe that this is a protection for her, and she will have every right to go to court, and take the abortionist to court if she should suffer because of the lack of screening and lack of care for the woman.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Nebraska Advances Bill Requiring Mental Health Screenings Before Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10040913.html
Nebraska Moves Ahead with Abortion Ban Based on Fetal Pain
Nebraska Moves Ahead with Abortion Ban Based on Fetal Pain
* Normally I am not a big fan of a unicameral legislature like that of Nebraska, but for today only I am willing to suspend any criticism of their system.
posted by Al @ 8:15 PM
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