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Kansas House Committee
Passes HB 2218 Part One of Three By Dave Andrusko One day after completing hearings, the Kansas House Federal and State Affairs Committee today approved a bill that is a virtual twin of Nebraska's historic Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The Nebraska law bans abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization (22 weeks from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period). HB 2218 would do the same. HB 2218 was introduced by State Rep. Lance Kinzer along with 47 co-sponsors from both parties. On Wednesday proponents made a strong case that there is a sizable body of medical evidence demonstrating that by 20 weeks after fertilization, the unborn child is capable of experiencing pain. "This is information that wasn't available to the Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade," said Kathy Ostrowski, State Legislative Director of Kansans for Life. "At the time our understanding of pain was so primitive that newborns undergoing surgery did so without anesthesia, receiving only a paralytic to keep them immobile." (For more testimony, see "Children Past 22 weeks Gestational Age Very Sensitive to Painful Stimulus, Doctor Testifies.") The bill's supporters argue that there is a compelling state interest in protecting the lives of unborn children capable of feeling pain. On Thursday opponents voiced their objections. Interestingly, according to the CAPITAL-JOURNAL newspaper, "Only after committee members said they weren't hearing anything to refute testimony that the bill's proponents, including two physicians, offered Wednesday about an unborn baby's ability to feel pain after 20 weeks did opponents cite a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that stated there was no scientific basis for claims of fetal pain as early as 20 weeks." National Right to Life has rebutted that 2005 report ""Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence," on numerous occasions (http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/fetal_pain/nrlcrebuttaljama.html). The study's authors included abortion activists, included no new laboratory research of its own, and its conclusions are disputed by experts with far more extensive credentials in pain research than any of the authors . Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |