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Major Pro-Life Victory as
Nebraska Passes "Pain-Capable
Unborn Child Protection Act" By Dave Andrusko Great day! Part Three puts passage of Nebraska's new law in context. Part Two shows how uneasy sex-selection abortions makes everyone but the most hardened pro-abortionist. Be sure to stop by www.nationalrighttolifenews.org and send your comments on any or all articles to daveandrusko@gmail.com. Thanks. If you'd like, follow me at http://twitter.com/daveha. By the time you read this edition of TN&V, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heinemen will have signed the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" into law. The significance of LB 1103, which passed Nebraska's unicameral legislature earlier today on a vote of 44-5, would be hard to exaggerate. Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC's State Legislative Director, summarized the thrust of the law in just nine words: "You don't kill unborn children capable of feeling pain." The law, basing its conclusion on an enormous body of medical research, sets the demarcation at 20 weeks.
Minutes after the legislature passed LB1103 and sent it on to Gov. Heinemen pro-abortion groups, such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, were quoted in online stories threatening to challenge the law in court. Abortionist LeRoy Carhart, whose specialty is aborting children after 20 weeks, "has also suggested he might challenge the law," according to the Associated Press. Balch was unfazed by the threats. She noted the unintentional (and ugly) irony of a quote from Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. Northrup told the Associated Press, "Courts have been chipping away at abortion rights...this would be like taking a huge hacksaw to the rights." "People who know nothing about abortion 'get it,'" Balch said. "You don't need coursework in fetal anatomy to know that babies this mature will suffer excruciating pain as they are being torn apart." Asked what are some of the key issues LB1103 will raise in court, Balch listed two. This law (1) "acknowledges that states have an interest in unborn children and an interest in protecting them," she said. (2) The law also "closes a major loophole in state laws," Balch said. In the 37 years since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, technological improvements in fetal care have moved the point of viability back from the third trimester to 22-24 weeks. Alongside those breakthroughs "there's been an avalanche of new information about the unborn child, including demonstrating that she is pain-capable at 20 weeks," Balch explained. "Experts from specialists in anesthesiology and maternal/fetal health testified that the unborn child feels pain by 20 weeks gestation at LB 1103's committee hearing on February 25," said Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life. "What we didn't know in 1973 when Roe v. Wade was foisted upon the nation we know now because of such technological advances as in-utero surgery and 4-D ultrasound." "Viability is one line," Balch said. "The state of Nebraska is saying there is another one: the point at which an unborn child is pain-sensitive." She noted that pro-abortionists count on media ignorance regarding what the Supreme Court has actually said. "The Justices have never addressed the issue of an unborn child's pain," Balch said. "If/when they do it would be a case of 'first impression,' as lawyers put it." She added, "We look forward to debating that in other state legislatures and in the courts." Moreover, exceptions are only made in LB 1103 for cases of a medical emergency (to prevent the death of the mother or to prevent severe and long lasting physical damage to a major bodily organ), or to increase the probability of a live birth, Balch said. "The Supreme Court has never said that a law must contain a 'mental health exception' to be constitutional." The language is similar to that used by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Casey v. Planned Parenthood decision. "We feel confident the Supreme Court would uphold that language," Balch said. Balch praised the work of the Nebraska legislature and particularly Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood. "The bill, and unborn children, could not have had a better advocate," she said. Balch offered high praise for Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life. "Julie did a wonderful job of shepherding the bill through the legislature," Balch said. When opponents pushed to weaken the bill, Balch said, "Julie pushed back." She was determined not to have a bill "that was amended into meaninglessness," Balch said, "and as a result Julie helped produce a groundbreaking bill." Please send your thoughts and comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. |
