ADF to W.Va. governor: Bill protecting babies from pain is sound

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Alliance Defending Freedom sent West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin a letter Tuesday supporting a bill that protects unborn children from pain by prohibiting most abortions at 20 weeks or later after fertilization.

The West Virginia House passed the bill 85–15, and the Senate passed it 25–9. It now awaits Tomblin’s signature.

“Every innocent life deserves to be protected,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Litigation Counsel Catherine Glenn Foster. “Not only does this law protect children in the womb who experience horrific pain during a late-term abortion, it also protects mothers from the increased risk of physical harm and tremendous psychological consequences that come with late-term abortions.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom letter explains that “the Bill is constitutionally sound and should be upheld against any legal challenge…. Medical advances in recent decades have provided a substantial and growing body of medical evidence that has led to a greater understanding of the development of unborn children and their capacity to feel pain at various stages of growth.”

“The ‘Legislative Findings’…of the Bill are supported by this medical evidence,” the letter continues, “including that unborn children respond to touch by eight weeks after fertilization and respond to painful stimuli by no later than 20 weeks’ gestation. Moreover, surgeons routinely administer anesthesia to unborn children before performing surgery. In addition, limitations on later-term abortions protect women’s health because later-term abortions can be hazardous to women’s health.”

The letter adds that the bill is virtually identical to the Pain-Capable Child Protection Act the U.S. House of Representatives passed on June 18 of last year. Thirteen other states have passed bills similar to West Virginia’s.

“Numerous states have passed such bills to protect the health of the mother and ensure that babies at that stage of development are free from excruciating pain,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “The governor can safely sign this bill into law. It protects the health and well-being of both the child and the mother.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.