H.R. 6099: Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act

Please vote YES for H.R. 6099: Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act

The act recognizes that unborn children are subjected to trauma through abortion that causes them excruciating pain, which would be illegal if inflicted on animals in commerce or research.
Several studies have shown that preborn babies as early as 20 weeks after fertilization experience severe pain during the abortion procedure.

Federal laws regulating animal welfare require that animals destined for slaughter experience a pain-free death, but that law does not protect preborn children from the remarkable pain they undergo in an abortion.

Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a researcher at the University of Arkansas Medical Center and a leading expert on fetal pain, said he has no doubt that babies have the capacity to feel intense pain by the second trimester. In the third trimester of pregnancy, he said, the internal systems for feeling pain are completely developed.

"This is based on multiple lines of evidence," Anand said. "Not just the lack of descending inhibitory fibers, but also the number of receptors in the skin, the level of expression of various chemicals, neurotransmitters, receptors, and things like that."

The act would require abortion providers to tell women who are aborting 20 weeks or more after fertlilization about the severe pain their preborn children will feel during the procedure. It would also require that the woman be allowed to decide whether her preborn could receive anesthesia, if it is more than 20-weeks-old.