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HOUSTON—Gov. Rick Perry announced last month that he would support a bill in the upcoming legislative session banning abortions in Texas beginning in the 20th week of pregnancy—the point at which many scientists believe a baby can feel pain.
The bill, known as the Texas Pre-Born Pain Act, was proposed by Texas Right to Life and is being drafted by state attorneys at the request of legislators. It was initially expected to be filed before Christmas, but that was delayed as legislative sponsors and attorneys worked out details.
Ten other states have already recognized the need to protect unborn children who can feel pain, a press release from the governor’s office said.
“This session, I’m calling on the legislature to strengthen our ban on the procedure [abortion], prohibiting abortion at the point a baby can feel the pain of being killed,” Perry said at a pro-life event in Houston. “We have an obligation to end that kind of cruelty.”
According to Texas Right to Life, the Texas Pre-Born Pain Act would “establish a state interest in pre-born life that can feel pain” and “apply that state interest by prohibiting all abortions on pre-born children who feel pain.”
Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, told the TEXAN in an interview that most scientists agree increasingly that infants can feel pain by the 20th week of pregnancy.
“The consensus is that when surgery is done on a pre-born child in utero … anesthesia is given to babies at 20 weeks,” she said. “Neonatologists and neonatology surgeons are anesthetizing children then to save their lives because they can feel pain. And so we would say that they can also feel pain if they are undergoing excruciating dismemberment.”
Texas Right to Life cites the opinions of numerous scientists and doctors to support its position.
For example, Jean Wright, a Savannah, Ga., anesthesiologist specializing in pediatric critical care medicine, told the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution in 2005 that by 20 weeks after fertilization, all the physical structures necessary to experience pain have developed. And according to Richard Schmidt, past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “It can be clearly demonstrated that fetuses seek to evade certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a reaction to pain.”
Supporters of the Pre-Born Pain Act say that this and other medical data will give credibility to the legislation.
Perry said his ultimate goal is “to make abortion, at any stage, a thing of the past,” though Roe v. Wade “prevents us from taking that step.” But he said the Supreme Court allows states to restrict the procedure if they can show a “compelling state interest” to do so.
“I don’t think there is any issue that better fits the definition of ‘compelling state interest’ than preventing the suffering of our state’s unborn,” Perry said. “We cannot, and we will not, stand idly by while the unborn are going through the agony of having their lives ended.”
Texas already has numerous restrictions on abortion, including a ban in the third trimester except in rare cases when the mother’s life or health is threatened. Yet if passed, the Pre-Born Pain Act would save approximately 1,000 additional lives each year—the number of abortions estimated to take place in the state annually after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Graham said she hopes the bill will encourage other states to follow suit.
“Establishing a state interest in protecting lives could inspire other states to look at where their state interest could fall in protecting lives,” she said.
Legislative sponsors for the bill will be determined after final drafting is complete, Graham said. At press time, legislative council was revising the bill.
“We’re looking at a big pro-life majority in the House and in the Senate, so we ought to expect some big pro-life accomplishments,” state Rep. Bryan Hughes, a leading abortion opponent in the legislature who is campaigning to be leader of the House, told the Austin American-Statesman. “I think the people back home are sending a message by continuing to send strong pro-life majorities to the legislature, and that’s what emboldens us.”
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