Frank Pallone: “Mr. Speaker, again, in response to the previous speaker, I think the point should be made that right now, under the…”

“Mr. Speaker, again, in response to the previous speaker, I think the point should be made that right now, under the current law, there's nothing to prevent a physician from advising a woman their opinion in the manner of pain that might be inflicted on the fetus. The problem is that legislation is imposing a mandate, a mandate that is based on evidence that simply is not scientifically proven. And that is why we have various medical organizations, most notably of course, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and these are the people that are experts on anesthesia. And they say again, I quote, ``that there is no legitimate scientific data or information that supports the view this legislation purports with regard to the pain of the fetus.'' And that is the problem here. This is a mandate, Mr. Speaker, and I think it is a mistake to mandate that this be done when the science is not clear. And again, this is a bill on the Suspension Calendar. I would urge my colleagues to vote against it. We don't know what the true science is.”