Joe Pitts: “this week we are debating a bill to ban partial-birth abortion. We will hear a lot of perspectives in this debate, but I…”

“this week we are debating a bill to ban partial-birth abortion. We will hear a lot of perspectives in this debate, but I think there is one perspective we may not hear, and that is the baby's perspective. I have an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association that might help us understand just what the baby goes through during a partial-birth abortion. The article is written by Dr. Sprang and Dr. Neerhof of Northwestern University Medical School. They say in their article, ``The centers necessary for pain perception develop early in the second trimester.'' Mr. Speaker, most partial-birth abortions happen in the second and third trimesters. Dr. Sprang and Dr. Neerhof say the vast majority of partial-birth abortions are performed on near-viable babies. They say, ``When infants of similar gestational ages are delivered, pain management is an important part of the care rendered to them in the intensive care nursery. But in a partial-birth abortion, pain management is not provided for the fetus, who is literally within inches of being delivered.'' Mr. Speaker, killing children by painfully stabbing them in the back of the head and sucking out their brains is wrong. It is up to us to stop it.”