Free Republic

The Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate has proven a tough battle ground for pro-lifers, with losses and wins in the session’s first 30 days.As Virginia rounds the corner in its first session of 2022, legislation passed in the state’s pro-life House faces major challenges in the Senate. Although Virginia ushered in a pro-life governor this January, the Senate is still controlled by pro-abortion Democrats.Last Tuesday’s “crossover” day marked a turning point in the 60-day session, as bills passed in the House and Senate moved down the hall for further votes. The Republican-controlled Virginia House passed HB 304, the Born Alive Infant Protection...

In 2006 a landmark article, the British Medical Journal claimed that abortions without fetal anesthetic were okay before 26 weeks of gestation, because fetuses at five and a half months can't feel pain. That was the 2006 opinion of Dr. Stuart W.G. Derbyshire, in discussions with American literary agent John Brockman, and that article came to be a basis for many abortions. Maybe a lot of M.D.s secretly wondered if that was really true, because the history of medicine is full of bad guesses that turned out to be wrong. But we know what happens if skeptics pipe up in...

Abortionist Dave Turok, of Salt Lake City, talking about a bill that would require abortionists to tell their late-term abortion patients that their babies can feel pain: “Turok said telling those women their fetuses feel pain is heaping torment upon torment. “These women have real pain,” he said. “They did not come to this decision easily. Creating another barrier for them to get the medical care they need is really unfair.” According to The Salt Lake Tribune : “The draft law allows doctors to remain silent in emergencies, cases of rape or incest or if the abortion is meant to...

On Tuesday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on late-term abortions and born-alive infants. This is the same Committee which has courageously refused to hold votes on a Supreme Court nominee from President Obama. While members of the Republican majority presented witnesses in favor of a 20-week ban on abortions due to the child’s ability to feel pain, members of the Democratic minority presented witnesses that were opposed to this idea and, even, opposed to caring for children born alive after failed abortion attempts. Dr. Colleen Malloy, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neonatology at Northwestern University testified that...

On Monday, the Utah State Senate voted 20-3 to pass legislation requiring any abortion past 20 weeks of pregnancy to include anesthesia for the preborn baby. The bill, SB 234, is based on a body of medical research strongly indicating that preborn children are capable of feeling pain around 20 weeks. Current law only requires abortionists to inform women of fetal pain and offer anesthesia as an option. It contains one amendment waiving the requirement in cases of the mother’s health (a standard pro-lifers fear is too broad under the Supreme Court’s definition of health, and could theoretically exempt any...

On Monday, the Utah Senate voted 19-5 in favor of legislation that would require doctors to administer anesthesia to babies during an abortion. The bill applies to abortions carried out any time after 20 weeks of gestation. Sen. Curt Bramble, the bill’s sponsor, explains… This will require that if we are going to take the life of an unborn child … then anesthesia would be required to protect the child from the infliction of pain at the time their life is forfeit. Bramble referred to abortion as a “death sentence” and says his legislation will help protect unborn babies. “If...

HOUSTON, TX, August 4 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A Planned Parenthood official admits that abortionists sometimes provide “intact” babies' body for organ harvesting and experimentation, in the latest undercover video released by the Center for Medical Progress. It also includes graphic footage of investigators seeing pristine organs extracted from a 20-week-old aborted baby. The director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Melissa Farrell, told undercover investigators that abortionists are willing to alter the abortion process to obtain the body parts researchers request, or to deliver a child essentially intact. “They can make it happen,” she said. “We bake that into our contract,...

FIFTH video from David Daleiden (and the Center for Medical Progress).

Science Backs Up Humanity of the UnbornDr. Carlo Bellieni Tells of Prenatal Suffering and DevelopmentROME, MAY 14, 2004 (Zenit) - The verifiable suffering of the human fetus poses serious reflections for doctors and researchers, and proves it is unscientific to treat "prenatal life as second-class," says a noted Italian neonatologist.Dr. Carlo Bellieni, in his book "Dawn of the I: Pain, Memory, Desire, Dream of the Fetus," published by SEF, addresses questions such as: What does a fetus experience? What are its rights? Is artificial insemination really harmless?Bellieni has spent years studying the suffering of the fetus and the newborn, as...

Interview With Dr. Carlo Bellieni ROME, OCT. 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- During its gestation the fetus is "already a member of the family and company for the mother even before being born," says neonatologist Carlo Bellieni. Dr. Bellieni of the Department of Neonatal Intensive Therapy of the University Polyclinic Santa Maria Le Scotte of Siena talked with ZENIT about his research on life-before-birth for his latest book "L'Alba dell'Io" (Dawn of the I), published by Società Editrice Fiorentina. Q: Until the 1980s it was thought that the maternal uterus was a sort of strongbox for the fetus. What has changed since...

As pro-life members of Congress gathered at the Susan B. Anthony reception last night on the eve of the March For Life, they were faced with the implosion of their legislation attempting to ban abortions after 20 weeks of a pregnancy. That put many of them in an awkward situation as prominent pro-life leaders came to town for a number of events in Washington D.C. The legislation was scheduled to pass the House of Representatives in time for members to trumpet the pro-life victory as the product of a Republican congress with an expanded majority at the March for Life....

Fresh from their overwhelming victory on Election Day, handing them control of the Senate over pro-abortion Democrats led by Harry Reid, Senate Republicans have unanimously elected pro-life Senator Mitch McConnell as their leader. McConnell, hailing from Kentucky, has promised the Senate will vote on a House-passed bill that bans abortions after 5 months because scientific research shows unborn children can feel pain at that point in pregnancy. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and would save at least 18,000 lives a year. McConnell previously pledged that if his party won the...

Nashville, TN – Today, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham introduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The legislation currently has 33 cosponsors – but Senator Alexander is not one of them. Conservative Senate candidate Joe Carr called on Senator Alexander to change his stance and add himself as a co-sponsor. “I’m strongly pro-life and believe it’s imperative the Senate pass this important piece of legislation. When Senator Graham announced his co-sponsors and Senator Alexander’s name was missing, I was disappointed. I am hoping Senator Alexander will change his stance and add himself as a co-sponsor. This legislation is too...

In 2011, Frances Kissling, the founding President of the National Abortion Federation, penned a Washington Post editorial supporting the very abortion regulations that many pro-life groups are celebrating today. Kissling defended such regulations saying: If the choice movement does not change, control of policy on abortion will remain in the hands of those who want it criminalized. If we don’t suggest sensible balanced legislation and regulation of abortion, we will be left with far more draconian policies – and, eventually, no choices at all. Did you hear that? Unless abortion-advocates advocate for “common-sense” regulations of their murderous industry, abortion will...

Pro-aborts won’t challenge fetal pain laws for fear of losing: Politico by Christine Dhanagom Thu Apr 21, 2011 April 21, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Recent late-term abortion bans based on fetal pain set to pass in state legislatures across the country are expected to become law without judicial challenge from pro-abortion activists, according to a Politico report yesterday. Oklahoma, Idaho and Kansas passed laws this month banning late term abortions on the basis of medical evidence that the unborn baby can feel pain. The cut-off point for legal abortions is now 20 weeks gestation in Idaho and Oklahoma, and 22 weeks...

With controversial late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart getting national attention over plans to expand his abortion business, a little-known 2008 study is gaining new attention.The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research organization previously affiliated with Planned Parenthood, released a study in 2008 titled “Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services, 2005.”The study found there were at least 1,787 abortion “doctors” in the United States but it revealed stark numbers when it comes to those who do abortions later in pregnancy.Of the 1,787, the study found that “[t]wenty percent of providers offered abortions after 20 weeks [LMP], and...

Fetal Pain Abortion Law takes Effect in Nebraska, Could Set national Trend Lincoln, NE -- A new fetal pain law is taking effect today in Nebraska that requires abortion practitioners to inform women of the pain an unborn baby will likely feel during the abortion. The law could set a national trend of other states and Congress considering such measures and could lead to a Supreme Court battle. http://LifeNews.com/state5554.html

Obama Told: Change Your Mind on Abortion b/c Unborn Children Feel Pain Washington, DC -- Yesterday, pro-abortion President Barack Obama relied on the language Bill Clinton used to try to moderate his radical image on abortion. But a pro-life senator and organization are pushing back on comment he made saying he wants abortions to be "safe, legal, and rare." http://LifeNews.com/nat6739.html

Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis, Pro-Life Groups Say London, England -- A new study from members of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists lacks a strong scientific basis and ignores the evidence supplies in several previous studies supplied by leading researchers in the field, say pro-life groups who are criticizing the new report. http://LifeNews.com/int1580.html

Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis, Pro-Life Groups Say London, England -- A new study from members of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists lacks a strong scientific basis and ignores the evidence supplies in several previous studies supplied by leading researchers in the field, say pro-life groups who are criticizing the new report. http://LifeNews.com/int1580.html