Wednesday, February 15, 2012
WV: Bill Would Ban Abortions after 20 Weeks
A committee in the House of Delegates is the first stop for the proposed bill that would ban abortions in West Virginia 20 weeks after fertilization.
The bill would establish legislative findings that fetuses or unborn children feel pain at that time.
Those with the organization ‘West Virginians For Life’ are supporting T’he Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act’ (PCUCPA).
They rallied at the State Capitol on Tuesday.
“I think it’s really important for people to understand that these babies suffer terribly from abortion,“ West Virginians For Life President Doctor Wanda Franz said.
She says there is a scientific evidence that a fetus or baby can feel pain after 20 weeks.
“The information about the development of the baby at 20 weeks is very clear that the thalamus and all of the body parts are there,“ Franz said.
That thalamus relays signals to the cerebral cortex which plays a key role in perceptual awareness and thought.
West Virginia Free Executive Director Margaret Chapman-Pomponio, though, says the science about the pain the fetus or unborn child feels has not been fully vetted.
She says the proposed bill is wrong for many reasons.
“It’s a very radical piece of legislation, an intrusion into the practice of medicine that is really punishing for women who are in difficult situations,“ Chapman-Pomponio said on Tuesday’s MetroNews Talkline.
She says it is not up to the Legislature to determine when a fetus or unborn child feels pain and then mandate what can be done based on that determination.
“This (possible abortion) needs to be a decision between a woman and her doctor,“ she said.
Week 20 of development comes in the middle of the second trimester. It marks the halfway point of pregnancy, when the fetus or unborn child weighs about 11 ounces and measures roughly six inches from top to bottom.
House Bill 4414, The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, was introduced earlier this month at the State House.
Similar measures have already been approved in a handful of other states.
Living • Health • Politics | Government | Election • State-WV • Permalink
The message should be much more important than the messenger but still people just don’t read or take the responsibility of independent thinking. It seems more important to know who said it, to be on the “right” side. I don’t like bullies. I don’t care for people telling others what they should and should not say or how to say it. That’s my right, my opinion. Don’t have any problem signing my name to this but for now I’ll just use…
To Not Me,