Scott Walker Signs 20-Week Abortion Ban Into Law

The Huffington Post ^ | July 20, 2015 | Laura Bassett

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a bill into law on Monday that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother's life is in danger. The legislation, which passed the GOP-controlled state legislature earlier this month, makes no exceptions for severe fetal anomalies or for victims of rape and incest.

Walker, a 2016 presidential candidate, said he supports the legislation because fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks -- an assertion that has been disputed by the mainstream medical community.

"At five months, that's the time when that unborn child can feel pain," Walker said Monday. "When an unborn child can feel pain, we should be protecting that child."

Abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy are very rare, making up less than 1 percent of all abortions. Often, women who seek abortion care after that point have discovered a severe fetal anomaly that could not be detected earlier on in the pregnancy.

Several major medical groups in Wisconsin oppose the 20-week abortion ban, including the Wisconsin chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians and the Wisconsin chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A group of 100 gynecologists in the state wrote a letter to Walker and members of the state legislature earlier this month urging them to oppose the bill because they say it "tie[s] the hands of doctors seeking to help women."

[Calpublican]

Walker is transforming Wisconsin in the moral way. Not the way the dictator is transforming America.

( wish they could go further on abortion though)

[Brown Deer]

...because fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks — an assertion that has been disputed by the mainstream medical community.”

As politicians debate, science reveals more and more about what happens during pregnancy

Amillia Taylor born at 21 weeks...


Amillia Taylor Turns 2!

[Brown Deer]

makes no exceptions for severe fetal anomalies or for victims of rape and incest.

So what? Why would it ever take a woman 20 weeks to realize she's been raped?

[Vermont Lt]

I think the fetal anomalies might be more of an issue for the mainstream.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

bttt

[Diamond]

This story would make a good case study in propaganda techniques.

"...an assertion that has been disputed by the mainstream medical community..."

"...Often, women who seek abortion care after that point..."

"...The court ruled in Roe that women have a constitutional right to an abortion up until the point that the fetus would be viable outside the womb, which does not occur until around 22 to 24 weeks of gestation... "

The phrase, "mainstream medical community" is intended to elicit emotional pressure to conform to a purported majority position of authorities.

"Abortion care" is a contradiction in terms.

Bassett's characterization of Roe v Wade is factually and legally false. Roe permits doctors to kill pre-born children for any reason or no reason, up until birth, not just 'viability'.

Cordially,