Press Conference Remarks - June 22, 2004

Unborn Children Feel Pain

Closing arguments begin today in the New York challenge to the partial birth abortion ban.

I have been struck with the graphic nature of the procedure, proponents call necessary to preserve a women’s right to choose.

Modern medicine has taught us that an unborn baby has his own fingerprints, heartbeat, brainwaves, and even his own dreams.

And anyone who has seen an ultrasound or has had a baby knows that an unborn child responds to all types of stimulus.

A drink of cold water, for instance, is something a baby responds to.

It’s obvious that an unborn child responds to stimuli and feels pain.

The ACLU conceded this point in the partial birth abortion trials.

If an unborn child can feel pain that his mom does not feel,  how can you say he is not a separate life?

Any woman trying to make a choice about the future of her pregnancy deserves to know the effect of that decision on her unborn child.

And they should be given the option to minimize or eliminate the pain an unborn child would feel during an abortion. 

As we learn more about the ability of unborn children to feel pain, we must take action to stop their suffering.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act offers them that opportunity.

This legislation is humane, it’s compassionate, it’s necessary, it’s reasonable, and it’s long overdue.

Women deserve to know.