A New Perspective on an Old Debate: the Unborn Child's Pain Capability

By Dave Andrusko

The buzz continues--and why not?--over Nebraska's landmark "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act." We've addressed LB 1103 on numerous occasions and have again today at "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrighttolife.org.)

Marc A. Thiessen has a wonderful op-ed in yesterday's Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041902082.html). Let me address just one of the many important observations he makes.

"A Gallup poll last year found that, for the first time, more Americans called themselves 'pro-life' than 'pro-choice' by a margin of 51 percent to 42 percent," Thiessen writes. "In 1995, the numbers were more than reversed: Fifty-six percent of Americans said they were 'pro-choice' and just 33 percent said they were 'pro-life.'"

He then raises a critically important point, not just for the future of this historic bill, but also for the trajectory the abortion debate is on.

"How did the pro-life position gain 18 percentage points in just 15 years? For one thing, scientific advances have allowed us to see inside the womb as never before," Thiessen writes. "Once-experimental medical procedures, such as fetal surgery to repair spina bifida, have become increasingly common. And a 1999 photo of baby Samuel Armas, then at 21 weeks gestation, reaching out of his mother's womb and holding his doctor's finger touched millions of hearts around the world."

Whether it's the lovely thought of an unborn child grasping a doctor's finger (very positive) or the grim reminder that an unborn child can experience pain beyond imagination as she is ripped apart (very ugly), either way the American public is being receiving a Ph.D. in advanced recognition of our common humanity.

By the way, be sure to read Part Two of Today's News & Views. Liz Townsend interviews Michael Clancy, the photographer who took that memorable photo of Baby Samuel.