H/T to Scarce for the video.
Anti-abortionists may have some compelling arguments to support their views,but I haven't heard one yet and Republicans can’t seem to find one. As the House prepares to debate outlawing all abortions after 20 weeks, Texas Republican Michael Burgess has come out with possibly the most bizarre case for fetal sentience yet.
“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” he said. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”
Before joining Congress, Burgess was...an OB-GYN.
Adele M. Stan writes:
The rationale for the Republican bill, which advanced through the House Judiciary last week on a near-total party-line vote, is one scientifically disputed study, touted by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) in his opening remarks at today’s Rules Committee hearing, that asserts fetuses can feel pain as early as 20 weeks after sperm meets egg.
“Well, I think all the members are cognizant of the fact that this is not a Congress that cares much about science,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the Rules Committee’s ranking member, in her questioning of Goodlatte, who refuted that claim by saying that since 1973, the year when the Supreme Court legalized abortion, much more had been learned about fetal development.
Major medical bodies in the United States and the United Kingdom have refuted the claim of fetal pain before the third trimester.
The 20-week abortion ban, if passed into law, would set up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, which allows abortion up to the point of fetal viability outside the womb, and mandates exceptions for abortions in the case of pregnancies that threaten the life or health of the woman.
Now before anyone thinks the Republicans have been generous with these mandates, there's an "exception" for victims of rape and incest as long as the victim has previously reported the crime and doesn't mind having a third party notify law enforcement that she is going to have an abortion.
“So, the authors of this bill apparently believe that women are too dishonest to be believed when they say they were raped or the victims of incest,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said. “It is Congress siding with her abuser…”.
The New York Times notes, "One thing is certain — the bill is a violation of Supreme Court precedent. The court has ruled that women have a right to an abortion until the fetus could live outside the womb, generally starting around 24 weeks of pregnancy."
Several state legislatures have passed similar bans similar to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, however just last month an appeals court struck down a "fetal pain" bill in Arizona, finding that the law was unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade.
