Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Passes in Alabama

With less than 30 minutes before the midnight deadline, the Alabama legislature sent the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to Gov. Robert Bentley’s desk for his signature.

“Modern medical science furnishes us with compelling evidence that unborn children recoil from painful stimuli, that their stress hormones increase when they are subjected to any painful stimuli, and that they require anesthesia for fetal surgery,” says Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee.

“Therefore, the states have a compelling interest in protecting unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion. We strongly encourage Governor Bentley to make Alabama the fifth state to recognize this obligation by signing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into law.”

The Alabama House, led by Representative Rich, passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Protection bill with a vote of 69-19. The Alabama’s Senate, led by Senator Beason, passed the bill by a vote of 26-5.

As drafted by National Right to Life’s state legislation department, the model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act protects from abortion unborn children who are capable of feeling pain except when the mother “has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or … it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child.”

“We commend Representative Kerry Rich and Senator Scott Beason for their actions in protecting unborn children and helping their mothers through enactment of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” says Cheryl Ciamarra, Alabama Citizens for Life’s representative to the Board of Directors of the National Right to Life Committee. “We ask Governor Bentley to sign this bill into law so that Alabama becomes a state which protects from abortion unborn child who are capable of feeling pain.”