TOPEKA — Strict limits would be placed on abortions after 22 weeks — based on disputed research that fetuses can feel pain at that point of development — under a bill approved Wednesday by the House.
The fetal-pain provision was included in one of two bills the House passed to increase abortion restrictions. Both bills still must go to the Senate.
Other provisions would require consent of both parents for minors to get an abortion and would require doctors to provide the state with more detailed records when they perform an abortion.
The concept that a fetus in the second trimester experiences pain evoked the most impassioned debate. Traditionally, the third trimester has been a cutoff point for abortions except in the most extreme circumstances.
"Dramatic advances in medicine and science have proven without a shadow of a doubt that our unborn children can and do feel pain at least from the 22nd week of gestation," said Rep. John Rubin, R-Shawnee. "Our unborn children's agony is no less just because we can't hear their screams."
Proponents of House Bill 2218 relied on testimony before the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs and studies that indicate fetuses have pain receptors functioning before the third trimester.
Opponents of the bill argued that fetal-pain claims are based on shaky science.
Read the complete article at kansas.com