Yesterday, Washington state’s Republican delegation joined the House Republicans and voted in favor of a bill that would severely restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortions. Bill H.R. 1797 goes under the Orwellian title “Pain-capable unborn child protection act.”
The bill goes to some lengths to argue that the fetus (referred to in wingnut-speak as “unborn child”) feels pain by “no later than 20 weeks after fertilization.” The claim is scientifically dubious. Recent reviews conducted by bona fide scientists (rather than, you know, wingnuts) cast doubt on this assertion.
For example, in a recent review article, Bellieni and Buonocore (2012, Journal of Maternal, Fetal, and Neonatal Medicine 25:1203–1208) weigh the anatomical, endocrinological, behavioral, and electrophysiological evidence. They cautiously conclude:
Our data show that there is consistent evidence of the possibility for the fetus to experience pain in the third trimester, and this evidence is weaker before this date and null in the first half of pregnancy.
Less ambiguity was found in a 2010 “Working Party” report by The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists titled “Fetal Awareness”. Their conclusions are rather concrete. From the summary…
In reviewing the neuroanatomical and physiological evidence in the fetus, it was apparent that connections from the periphery to the cortex are not intact before 24 weeks of gestation and, as most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception, it can be concluded that the fetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation. After 24 weeks there is continuing development and elaboration of intracortical networks such that noxious stimuli in newborn preterm infants produce cortical responses. Such connections to the cortex are necessary for pain experience but not sufficient, as experience of external stimuli requires consciousness. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that the fetus never experiences a state of true wakefulness in utero and is kept, by the presence of its chemical environment, in a continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation. This state can suppress higher cortical activation in the presence of intrusive external stimuli. This observation highlights the important differences between fetal and neonatal life and the difficulties of extrapolating from observations made in newborn preterm infants to the fetus.
These recent reviews summarize the broad scientific literature relying on hundreds of previous scientific studies and empirical observations that weigh in on all sides of the argument. The House Republicans relied on cherry picking a handful of papers that favor their position. They come to a “scientific conclusion” for the bill using amateur methods unworthy of an undergraduate term paper, let alone a House bill!
The bill prohibits abortions after 20 weeks post-fertilization, and provides limited exceptions:
- To “save the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury…not including psychological or emotional conditions.”
- If “the pregnancy is the result of rape,” but only “if the rape has been reported at any time prior to the abortion to an appropriate law enforcement agency“
- If “the pregnancy is the result of incest against a minor” but only “if the incest against a minor has been reported at any time prior to the abortion“
The scientific record is clear on another aspect of abortion: “Abortion-related deaths are more frequent in countries with more restrictive abortion laws”. The more restrictive the laws, the higher the rates of abortion-related maternal mortality.
The World Health Organization estimates that there are about 20 million unsafe abortions annually. The practice result in about 68,000 unnecessary deaths to women, and an additional 5 million women who suffer long-term health complications from the unsafe practices. The public health consequences of anti-abortion laws are profound.
Republicans, by voting for Bill H.R. 1797, have ignored (in fact, abused) science, and have voted, essentially, to kill women.
And I am sad to see that Washington state’s G.O.P. delegation, Dave Reichert, “Doc” Hastings, Jamie Herrera Beutler, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, all voted in favor of killing women.
Death is a pretty harsh punishment for unintentionally getting pregnant…particularly for women who were too embarrassed to report a rape, or girls too ashamed to report incest.
You know what…It’s time to get rid of these puritanical women-killing fucking troglodytes!
What does science have to do with wingnuttery? They’re mutually exclusive.
@1
We’ve learned from puddybigot recently that wingnut science consists of…
1. It’s in the Bible!!!
2. God made me…you’re an ape!!!
3. God said it, I believe it, that settles it!!
4. If scientists haven’t created a matter-antimatter engine and encountered the Romulans yet, then the Universe must be 6000 years old!!!
5. Clearly Noah and God teleported Emperor Penguins to and from Antarctica to Mesopotemia so they could go on the boat ride with the Velociraptors and Unicorns. Obviously.
Did I miss anything?
Perhaps if we named a minimum wage hike bill:
The Ronald Reagan Life Begins at Conception and The Unborn Will Die From Obamacare Act
we could work on the economy?
@2
Corrected
So much for the national debt and job creation being the top issues for congress…
Yesterday there was a story on this on NPR. The bill has nothing to do with a special need, it’s just to try to give the Republicans excuses to continue to bring up the abortion doctor who was recently convicted.
The sponsor of the bill refused to allow any exceptions for rape or incest, and the Repubicans became worried it would turn into another “war on women” talking point. So they pulled the sponsor from responsibilities of managing the bill on the floor of the House, and instead turned it over to an anti-abortion Congresswoman who made a better media spokesman. Which everyone noted was a bit strange, because she had nothing to do with the bill up to that point (she wasn’t even on the judiciary committee which voted the bill to the floor). But since all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are men, they had to come up with a novel tactic.
It’s interesting that the rape and incest exceptions are very limited. A minor who becomes pregnant due to incest and sneaks away from home to have an abortion may be too scared to report it to the police, for any number of reasons. A woman who is raped and intentionally impregnated by her husband may also be too afraid to report the rape. Heck, in many neighborhoods girls might be too afraid to report rape by those outside the family because they have seen the assailants commit worse crimes and get out on bail, free to extract revenge on their victims.
@2
just the “scientific proof” of intelligent design part
And the immaculate conception of Puddybud.
Actually, all his concepts are immaculate and divinely ordered.
You can tell by the language .
1. It’s in the King James Bible!!!
Please. That’s the one with all the highfalutin fancy words. You want English just like Jesus spoke it, in one of those American versions that are the scriptural equivalent of Wonder Bread.
The inhabitants of the Soviet Union had a great joke about their version of socialism: “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.” Given the recent election results, we can safely conclude that Republicans pretend to ban abortion, and Bible-bangers pretend to vote for them.
Do you think that the >>I<< am guilty of homicide when a fetus dies? Or am I above the law?
@6: Don’t forget the parental notification restrictions. It’s hard to imagine the victim of incest getting a safe and legal abortion when she has to notify her parents to get access. Making this bill law would simply increase black market abortions.
@6 Especially if it was Dear Old Dad who knocked her up.
Will this vote finally shut up the apologists for Reichert? Sure he manages a green vote every once in a while but he’s still a self-promoting, right-wing asshole. His alleged moderation is a micron thick as his abortion vote shows. He has gone far on his look in a uniform and general reluctance to attack law enforcement figures. Now, if only the Democrats can muster up a decent candidate to run against him in the next election.
@13 His district should’ve elected Darcy when they had the chance. Now they’re stuck with Sheriff Hairspray. He doesn’t hug rabbits.
@13
Sadly no. His newly gerrymandered district carves out a segment of the moving to blue Eastside and dilutes it with rual dunderheads as far as Lake Chelan.
You know the type. “Why I didn’t get a handout for nothing. Here in Chelan we built all this tourism from scratch without any state funded ad campaign. Hell, my pappy built that dam with his own bare hands that made the lake and gives us cheap power but keep your hands off my share of that Federal money!”