February 14, 2012
RE: The District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn
Child Protection Act (S. 2103)
Dear Senator:
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the
nationwide federation of state right-to-life
organizations, urges you to cosponsor the
District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child
Protection Act (S. 2103).
This vital legislation, which is a top priority for
NRLC during 2012, was introduced on February 13 by
Senator Mike Lee. (The House companion bill, H.R.
3803, was introduced on January 23 by Congressman
Trent Franks.) The bill contains legislative
findings and operative language very similar to
bills already enacted in five states during 2010 and
2011: Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, and
Alabama. None of these laws have faced any serious
legal challenge to date.
Like those state laws, S. 2103 contains findings of
fact regarding the medical evidence that unborn
children experience pain at least by 20 weeks after
fertilization (which is 22 weeks in the “LMP”
system, or about the start of the sixth month), and
prohibits abortion after that point, except when an
acute physical condition endangers the life of the
mother.
Some of the extensive evidence that unborn children
have the capacity to experience pain, at least by 20
weeks, is available on the NRLC website at
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/Fetal_Pain/index.html
Additional state legislatures will be taking up
similar legislation during the months ahead.
However, there is one substantial jurisdiction over
which the U.S. Constitution places legislative
responsibility solely on the shoulders of the
Congress: The District of Columbia. Article I,
Section 8 of the Constitution dictates unequivocally
that Congress shall “exercise exclusive legislation
in all cases whatsoever, over such District . . .”
Currently, in our nation’s capital, unborn children
may legally be killed at any point up to birth, for
any reason. Abortions are advertised, and performed,
in the sixth month and later. This means that unborn
children who are capable of experiencing
excruciating pain are killed every day – most often,
by a method in which arms and legs are twisted off
by brute manual force, as the abortionist guides his
forceps using an ultrasound image. A medical
illustration of this common method (“D&E”) is posted
here.
Another advertised method, in the seventh month and
later, involves thrusting a needle into the unborn
child’s heart and injecting a lethal substance.
Under the Constitution, only the Congress – and, if
he would, the President – have the responsibility
for putting an end to these brutal practices. The
National Right to Life Committee urges you to join
the campaign to protect pain-capable unborn children
in the nation’s capital, by adding your name as a
cosponsor of S. 2103 (contact:
Ryan_McCoy@lee.senate.gov), and by working for
its expeditious enactment.
Respectfully,
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
512 10th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 626-8820
federallegislation@nrlc.org
http://www.nrlc.org
