So far, a total of 23 US states have introduced fetal pain legislation – 19 in 2005, and four this year, which would require that abortionists disclose to women the reality that killing an unborn baby by abortion causes pain to the child.
So far Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all passed the bills, although Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the legislation last month. Doyle claimed that, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the bill failed “to reflect a consensus of medical opinion,” and “intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship in a heavy-handed manner.”The Governor relied on a Journal of the American Medical Association so-called study that concluded that the unborn do not experience pain. As reported by LifeSiteNews.com, http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/aug/05082501.html, the editor of the JAMA told Knight Ridder news she was unaware of bias by the study’s authors. As pointed out by the US National Right to Life Committee, “The lead author, Susan J. Lee, is a medical student and former NARAL employee.”
The connection to pro-abortion activism doesn't end there. Co-author Eleanor Drey is the director of an abortion clinic in San Francisco. Dr. Drey is also on the staff of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, a pro-abortion advocacy center at the University of California-San Francisco.
JAMA editor-in-chief Catherine D. DeAngelis told Knight Ridder she was unaware of the authors’ connections, and acknowledged it might create an appearance of bias that could hurt the journal’s credibility.
JAMA had to know that their article was produced by pro-abortion activists. There was no new laboratory research reported in the article - it was merely a commentary on a selection of existing medical literature. Hardly worthy of being used to veto legislation intended to advise mothers that killing their unborn baby by abortion causes pain to the child. Perhaps the Democratic governor had politics on his mind when he decided to veto the bill, but of course who are we to judge a politician simply on the basis of his party's history of support for the abortion industry and a mother's choice to kill her child rather than a child's right to live?
Cross-posted: Hyscience
Lifesite, which just relied on USA Today's numbers, has it wrong. 23 states have not had fetal pain bills introduced. The number is about 12 or 15. USA Today apparently erroneously combined those bills with the ultrasound informed consent bills. For the most updated information on this and other pro-life issues, visit LifeNews.com.