For further information:
Jessica Rodgers, 202-626-8825, mediarelations@nrlc.org

GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO
PROTECT UNBORN CHILDREN CAPABLE OF FEELING PAIN

WASHINGTON – Late this afternoon, the Georgia House of Representatives voted 102-65 to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which protects unborn children capable of feeling pain. The bill will now go to the Georgia Senate for consideration.

“We applaud the Georgia House of Representatives for taking this important step for pain-capable children," said Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).  "The state has a vested interest in protecting unborn children who can feel pain from the violence of abortion."

The model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, drafted by the National Right to Life Committee’s state legislation department, protects the life of the unborn child at the point that they are capable of feeling pain except when the mother "has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or...it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child."  Further documentation and links to the scientific studies can be found at: www.doctorsonfetalpain.com.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a priority of the National Right to Life Committee, has been passed in five states and is currently being debated across the country. The legislation has also been introduced in Congress with the intent to protect unborn children in the District of Columbia who are able to feel pain during an abortion.

"Medical science has changed over the last forty years,” said Balch “Accordingly, elected officials across the country are looking at new medical advances and recognizing that our laws need to step into the future as we continue to learn more about the development of the unborn child.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.