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Abortion Court cases Fetal pain

Idaho law banning abortion to prevent fetal pain challenged in federal court

Here are stories from the National Right to Life News and LifeNews on a lawsuit that has been filed challenging the constitutionality of Idaho’s Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortion after 20 weeks to prevent fetal pain. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/09/idaho-woman-challenges-unborn-child-pain-protection-act/ and http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/31/first-lawsuit-filed-on-fetal-pain-based-20-week-abortion-ban/ Richard M.

Categories
Abortion Bioethics Chronic pain Fetal pain Philosophy

Pain as Fact and Heuristic

If you are like me, you aren’t sure what “heuristic” means. According to multiple sources, it is an experience-based technique for problem solving. In her new article,Pain as Fact and Heuristic: How Pain Neuroimaging Illuminates Moral Dimensions of Law, Professor Amanda C. Pustilnik argues against a simple understanding of physical pain as a justification for […]

Categories
Fetal anomolies and disabilities Fetal pain Health exception

Hospitals ban elective inductions before 39 weeks

Oregon papers are reporting that all-Portland area hospitals are prohibiting elective inductions and c-sections prior to 39 weeks gestation. “[R]esearch has shown that there is significant brain development going on right through 38 weeks. Babies born before 39 weeks of pregnancy are two to three times more likely to be admitted to intensive care as […]

Categories
Abortion Constitutionality Fetal anomolies and disabilities Fetal pain Legislation

Series of articles on the “viability rule”

Just discovered a series of articles exploring the Supreme Court’s position allowing post-viability abortion bans by Randy Beck. You can find Randy Beck’s articles at The Essential Holding of Casey: Rethinking Viability, Where’s the Syllogism?: Gonzales, Casey and the Viability Rule, and Self-Conscious Dicta: The Origins of Roe v. Wade’s Trimester Framework. These articles are […]

Categories
Abortion Fetal anomolies and disabilities Fetal pain Late-term abortion Women's health

Cesarean Delivery at the Edge of Viability

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed this year in four states (Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, & Oklahoma). It prohibits performance of abortions from 20 weeks post-fertilization (22 gestational weeks) unless necessary to protect the life or physical health of the mother. The tfollowing report notes that children born at this early age via ceasarean have […]

Categories
Abortion Constitutionality Contraception Fetal pain Legislation Planned Parenthood Politics

Cost of Unplanned Pregnancies and Laws on Fetal Pain

UFL member Michael New has some interesting observations on the Guttmacher Institute’s new report estimating the cost of unplanned pregnancies here and a brief comment on the NYT report regarding the passage of laws related to fetal pain here.

Categories
Fetal pain Late-term abortion Legislation

NYT on Unborn Child Pain Protection Acts

The NYT ran a front page article today on the passage of laws limiting abortion in recognition that an unborn child feels pain at 20 weeks. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/us/27abortion.html While the article is better than most NYT pieces on abortion as far as trying to be even handed (I know this is faint praise), the reporter omits […]

Categories
Fetal pain Late-term abortion

forthcoming article of interest

Two pro-choice advocates are publishing an article of interest in The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics: Glenn Cohen and Sadath Sayeed, Fetal Pain, Abortion, Viability and the Constitution (forthcoming April/May 2011). One significant point is that the authors implicitly corroborate the irrelevance of viability to the personhood of an infant born alive in an […]

Categories
Fetal pain Legislation

abortion bans to prevent fetal pain may not be challenged

Here is a LifeNews story that discusses the prospect that abortion rights groups may not challenge laws in Nebraska and other states that ban abortion to prevent fetal pain.  http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/20/pro-abortion-groups-may-not-challenge-fetal-pain-abortion-bans/ Richard M.

Categories
Abortion Constitutionality Fetal pain Late-term abortion Legislation

debate on the constitutionality of fetal pain legislation

See you the links below for discussion of the constitutionality of legislation banning abortion to prevent fetal pain. Paul Linton recently published an article in the Human Life Review, http://www.humanlifereview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125:the-problem-of-pain-legislation&catid=4:blog , arguing that laws such as Nebraska’s recently passed statute are misguided because such laws have little chance of being upheld in the courts. Mary Balch has […]