Pro-Life Measure Fails in House Vote

An important bill that would have required abortionists to inform women that abortion causes pain in the unborn child failed to clear the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act received majority support by a vote of 250-to-162.  But the measure failed to get the two-thirds majority vote needed under the rules that limited debate.

The measure was sponsored by Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey who called on his colleagues to support the bill.  "t's about time that women were told the truth about abortion," Smith declared during debate.

After the vote, Smith expressed his dedication to keeping this issue on the front burner.  "This is not going to go away.  The evidence is growing, not diminishing, that these children feel pain."

The Bush Administration backed the measure and issued a statement after the vote:  "Medical science has greatly improved our knowledge and understanding of fetal development in recent years, and pregnant women should be fully informed of the facts."

The legislation would require any doctor performing an abortion on a woman who is at least 20 weeks into her pregnancy to first provide her with information about the ability of the unborn fetus to feel pain and offer to anesthetize the fetus during the abortion. 

The woman would be given a brochure from the Department of Health and Human Services that would read, in part, "There is a significant body of evidence that unborn children at 20 weeks after fertilization have the physical structures necessary to experience pain." She could accept or decline the fetal anesthesia option. Doctors who don't follow these steps could face civil suits or fines of up to $100,000.