It's Actually Legal to Deny Anesthesia to Unborn Babies in Pain, But Some People Are Trying to Change That

Source Wikimedia Commons

If a Montana bill becomes law, doctors will be required to administer anesthesia to unborn children during surgical procedures — including abortions — to prevent pain and suffering. HB 479 states that “except in the case of a medical emergency or the refusal of a woman to provide informed consent, a person may not perform fetal surgery on an unborn child whose gestational age is 20 or more weeks without administering an amount of anesthesia to the unborn child that provides adequate relief from physical pain and suffering.”

It’s difficult to imagine how much medication would be required to provide relief to a tiny child who is being dismembered and killed during an abortion, because, as the bill notes, “substantial scientific evidence recognizes that an unborn child is capable of experiencing physical pain and suffering” at 20 weeks gestation. Montana lawmakers say the state has a compelling interest in preventing or minimizing the pain and suffering of an unborn child during an abortion but they say that the requirement does not impose any additional burden on the woman seeking an abortion, nor does it stand in the way of her decision. Note that the mother, after being informed of her baby’s ability to feel pain, can still deny her anesthesia under the Montana law. (That’s a truly horrifying thought, isn’t it?)

The bill was sent to Governor Bullock — a pro-abortion Democrat — on Monday and is awaiting his signature. All of Montana’s House Democrats oppose the bill, which would be the first of its kind in the nation.

“I’m sorry if women’s bodies get in the way of some people’s political beliefs,” said Rep. Jenny Eck (D) during floor discussion last week. “I’m sorry that women have autonomy, self-determination and constitutional rights. But that’s the way it is. And until men can carry babies or artificial incubators can build babies, you’re stuck with that reality: that women have our own rights, our own lives, our own wills.”

In other words, suffer away, precious little babies. Democrats — who weep over the plights of Shamu, puppies in puppy mills, and cows on antibiotics  — have not one ounce of compassion for you as your little arms and legs are torn from your body. In their haste to extinguish your life, they are willing to deny you even a tiny measure of comfort in your final minutes of life.