HB 821 -- UNBORN CHILD PAIN PREVENTION ACT

SPONSOR:  Onder

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Special Committee on
Family Services by a vote of 7 to 3.

This bill establishes the Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act which
requires treating physicians to inform a woman seeking an
abortion after 20 weeks gestation that she has the right to
review specified information about the capacity of an unborn
child to experience pain during an abortion.  The treating
physician must also offer the woman the option of administering
an anesthetic or analgesic to the unborn child.  Medical
emergencies are exempt from these requirements.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Cost on General Revenue Fund of Less than
$3,130 in FY 2008, Less than $3,758 in FY 2009, and Less than
$3,758 in FY 2010.  No impact on Other State Funds in FY 2008,
FY 2009, and FY 2010.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that some methods of abortion
performed after 20 weeks gestation are painful to the unborn
child.  The bill errs on the side of compassion by allowing the
unborn child to receive anesthesia to eliminate pain incurred
during an abortion.   As long as an abortion is legal, pain
relief is needed.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Onder; Missouri Right
to Life; Missouri Catholic Conference; Campaign Life Missouri;
Missouri Family Network; Americans United for Life; and Missouri
Baptist Convention, Christian Life Commission.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that it is a notion of
protecting a fetus and a woman from pain; however, it is really
just a cover for sparking further discussion about limiting or
eliminating abortions.  Currently, there is no medical consensus
on what gestational age a fetus actually begins to feel pain.
Anesthesia is risky, and adding risk to a procedure does not sit
well with Missourians' values and is unnecessary.  Very few
abortions are performed after 20 weeks gestation, and the
information physicians would be required to distribute is
unsubstantiated and misleading.

Testifying against the bill were Planned Parenthood of the St.
Louis Region; American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri;
and Janice Barnes, Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated July 25, 2007 at 11:20 am