Montana bill says fetuses can feel pain, outlaws abortion after 20 weeks

[TexasTowelie]

HELENA — A state senator on Monday introduced a bill that that would prohibit the abortion of an unborn child that can feel pain.

The legislation, from Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, says a doctor may not perform, induce or attempt an abortion on a fetus capable of feeling pain unless it is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the mother. The bill defines a fetus as being able to feel pain at 20 weeks.

“The need for this bill is brought by the increased scientific evidence abortion is painful for the unborn,” Regier told the Public Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee, which took no action on the bill Monday. “We have all heard stories of babies delivered between 20-30 weeks of development. They survived because they had all the body parts needed, all the physical structures necessary to experience pain have developed.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has said a woman has the right to choose an abortion before a fetus is considered viable, generally at 21-23 weeks. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down an Idaho law similar to Regier’s bill that banned abortions at 20 weeks, saying it categorically banned pre-viability abortions, according to a legal note attached to the bill.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/bill-says-fetuses-can-feel-pain-outlaws-abortion-after-weeks/article_78ffd2c2-fc19-5644-939c-f3012a0a27a0.html

[Warpy]

1. In that case, it would be legal up until the last month

because that's when the brain structures that interpret pain finally develop and even then, they probably don't switch on until after birth so the kid doesn't go into shock during the birth process.

It's a pity none of these god bothering yahoos ever bothered to talk to someone who knows about fetal development, especially neurological development, who could tell them the difference between the spinal loop reflex that causes withdrawal and the interpretation, or "feeling" of pain.

That spinal reflex is what, when you touch something hot, has your finger near your ear before your brain goes "OW!"

The present guideline of treating the removal of a viable fetus as a premature birth is a sound one. 20 weeks is a whole month before viability.

[jmowreader]

2. Republican anti-abortion idiocy is rampant in the Redoubt

Just a few hundred miles to the west of this Montana idiot is the sumptious Dalton Gardens, ID, home of one Vito Barbieri...the moran who wanted to know if a woman could swallow a camera to see if she was pregnant. (No, I'm NOT kidding. It was in all the papers, generally under the headline "Dumbass Republican Outs Himself."

[nolabear]

3. So no circumcisions then. Oh wait, that's okay. Religion.

Slippery slope. And I'll admit we had the sons circumcised. We thought it would set them apart. Don't know what I would say now. It's not about pain. It's not admitting you would never have a casual choice but should have the right to choose.

[safeinOhio]

4. This

[Delmette2.0]

5. Excellent point. Thank you!