Now that the control of the Kentucky House of Representatives has passed from the Democrats to the Republicans, two pro-life pieces of legislation have passed the Senate and the House, which were quickly signed by Republican Governor Matt Bevin, and both of which took effect immediately.
Informed Consent
One bill requires that those profiting from destroying the unborn child be required to provide a woman with an ultrasound and the opportunity to see it prior to having an abortion.
“This week, common sense legislation to protect life and provide women with appropriate medical information has passed the Kentucky General Assembly,” Chairwoman of the House Health and Family Services Committee, Rep. Addia Wuchner (R- House District 66, Boone County) stated. “There is nothing more pro-woman than protecting the life of a child and assuring that all women are provided complete medical information when such a critical life-impacting decision is faced.”
After explaining that the bill would help to ensure that mothers are fully informed prior to making a decision about abortion, State Rep. Kimberly Moser (R-House District 64, Campbell and Kenton Counties) stated: “It is with accurate information that a patient can make an informed decision regarding their treatment, whether it is treatment for a brain tumor requiring an MRI or CAT scan, or if it is to determine the health and the progress of a pregnancy through an ultrasound.”
As expected, the so-called American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of none other than EMW Women’s Surgical Center, the abortion mill located in Louisville. Although EMW’s abortion facilities closed in Lexington, there is still one operating in Louisville.
Isn’t it ironic that the ACLU, which cries that abortion must be kept safe, did not applaud the closing of the EMW abortion mill in Lexington, which both the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the Kentucky Supreme Court found to be in “substandard condition,” with expired medications, defective equipment, torn examination table, and dust accumulation, warranting the state to close the facility.
For whom does the ACLU want to make abortion safe? Obviously not the unborn child. In Lexington, obviously not the mother. So it must be their clients, those who profit from the killing of unborn children.
National Right to Life
Kentucky now has become the 16th state to enact the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. After passing in the House by a vote of 79 to 15 and in the Senate by a vote of 32 to 5, Gov. Bevin wasted no time in signing the bill, which takes effect immediately. This legislation outlaws an abortion of a child capable of experiencing pain, which has long been established to take place long before 20 weeks.
However, some medical authorities argue that the child can feel pain months before 20 weeks. In fact, “The unborn child responds to sensory input as early as seven weeks (gestational) age…Within a few days, the entire system of pain perception expands into a completely intact structure and continues to develop into a very sophisticated part of the nervous system….I can’t begin to understand a motivating factor behind insisting that preborn children feel no pain,” teaches Sheila Page, D.O., board certified in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine.
She continues: “…surgeons who care for babies in-utero during fetal surgery and other interventions use anesthesia and analgesic drugs on their tiny patients. …Since abortion is not a procedure that is intended to benefit the child in the first place, they [abortionists] have no reason to try to discern whether the victim suffers in the process.”
The legislation does allow for an exception if an abortion is necessary to save a mother’s life or to prevent substantial, irreversible harm to any of her major bodily functions. Are there any such situations in modern medicine, where a woman would live if she had an abortion, and die if she did not? “Today it is possible for almost any patient to be brought through pregnancy alive, unless she suffers from a fatal illness such as cancer or leukemia, and if so, abortion would be unlikely to prolong, much less save, life. “There is little evidence that pregnancy itself worsens a psychosis, either intensifying it or rendering a prognosis for full recovery less likely,” admits Alan Guttmacher, M.D., past president of Planned Parenthood. “In my 36 years of pediatric surgery I have never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother’s life,” stated former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D.
