Chris Smith: “An overwhelming majority of Americans--some 60 to 64 percent, according to pollsters--support legal protection for…”

“An overwhelming majority of Americans--some 60 to 64 percent, according to pollsters--support legal protection for pain-capable unborn children at, at least, the 20th week, or about 5 months. Today we know that unborn babies not only die, but suffer excruciating pain during dismemberment abortion, a cruelty that rips arms and legs off of a helpless child. Even Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote on the court in the Stenberg vs. Carhart decision said: ``The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would. It bleeds to death as it is torn limb from limb.'' He points out that, with a D&E dismemberment abortion, ``the fetus can be alive at the beginning of the dismemberment process and can survive for a time while its limbs are being torn off.'' Mr. Speaker, even if pain wasn't present, dismembering a child is violence against children, and it is inhumane. But these babies at this age actually suffer. Dr. Robert White, a professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University, has said: ``An unborn child at 20 weeks is fully capable of experiencing pain. Without question, abortion is a dreadfully painful experience for that child.'' Dr.…”