ON THE UNBORN CHILD PAIN
AWARENESS ACT
TAKE ACTION NOW!
This is an update
from the National Right to Life
Committee (NRLC), issued Tuesday,
December 5, 2006, at 11 AM EST. For
further information on this issue,
contact the NRLC Federal Legislation
Department at 202-626-8820 or
Legfederal@aol.com. Please forward
this e-mail to any appropriate lists.
The U.S. House of
Representatives will vote on the
Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act
(H.R. 6099) on the morning of
Wednesday, December 6, 2006.
The bill,
sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith
(R-NJ), will be considered under
a fast-track procedure
("suspension of the rules"),
under which no amendments will
be considered, and a two-thirds
vote is required for passage.
If the House passes the bill by
the required two-thirds vote,
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.)
has said that he will seek
unanimous consent to pass the
bill in the Senate as well.
The Unborn Child
Pain Awareness Act is strongly
supported by NRLC. Among the
other organizations urging the
House to pass the bill are the
Family Research Council,
Concerned Women for America, the
Christian Medical Association,
the Southern Baptist Convention
(Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission), and Priests for
Life.
To take immediate
action in support of this bill
by using the new "Call Now"
feature on the NRLC website's
Legislative Action Center, click
here.
Here are some
additional links to resources on
this issue that you may find
useful:
* An NRLC letter
to House members (November 27)
explaining the legislation and
urging support,
here.
* An article in
today's Washington Post
on the imminent House vote,
here. Note especially this
excerpt from the article:
"[Democratic] Party leaders in
the House have declared
tomorrow's decision 'a vote of
conscience' and will not try to
sway the outcome. House
Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) does not plan to
speak on the bill, a rarity for
her. . . . While the measure has
provoked strong opposition from
Planned Parenthood and the
National Abortion Federation,
NARAL Pro-Choice America,
perhaps the nation's leading
abortion rights group, has
stayed neutral. . . . Democratic
leaders cited NARAL's position
when they decided against trying
to influence the vote.
Democratic leadership aides said
yesterday that they are leery of
Republicans charging that they
are already out of touch with
mainstream values, even before
they assume power."
* An NRLC
factsheet summarizing the
science on fetal pain,
here (PDF file).
* An NRLC memo
rebutting an article on fetal pain
published by the Journal
of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) in August
2005,
here. The JAMA article, often
cited by opponents of the
bill, claimed that available
research suggests that the human
fetus does not experience pain until
about 29 weeks. As the NRLC memo
and the linked documents
demonstrate, the JAMA paper has been
contradicted by some highly
credentialed authorities in the
field, and is inconsistent with
longstanding observations and
treatment of newborns who survive
long-term after being born as early
as 23 weeks. Moreover, the lead
author of the JAMA article, a
medical student, was previously an
attorney for NARAL, and one of the
other authors is a longtime activist
who runs the largest abortion clinic
in San Francisco, performs hundreds
of late abortions every year, and
has been a leading critic of the
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Act. According to
an article by the medical writer
for the Philadelphia Inquirer,
who brought these associations to
the attention of the JAMA editor
after JAMA published the paper, "JAMA
editor-in-chief Catherine D.
DeAngelis said she was unaware of
this, and acknowledged it might
create an appearance of bias that
could hurt the journal's
credibility. 'This is the first I've
heard about it,' she said. 'We ask
them to reveal any conflict of
interest. I would have published'
the disclosure if it had been made."
