Source+1

Cohen, I G. "The flawed basis behind fetal-pain abortion laws." //The Washington Post//. 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. .

__Facts:__

 * The fetal-pain bills do not directly challenge the Supreme Court’s judgment. Instead, they assert a new theory for outlawing abortion.
 * Alternatively, states may argue that, although preventing pain is not compelling on its own, it becomes so when combined with the state’s interest in preserving fetal life before viability.
 * Medical and psychological research shows that pain is both a physical response and an experiential one.
 * The neural structures that a fetus would need to “experience” pain do not develop until well beyond the point at which these bills prohibit abortion.
 * Even if fetal pain existed, the alleged experience could be prevented without outlawing abortion.
 * As proof that fetuses are capable of feeling pain, Nebraska’s law notes that physicians often administer anesthesia to fetuses.
 * These statutes might be thought of as asking the courts to find that preventing pain to fetuses is also a compelling state interest.
 * Although the Supreme Court has identified preserving fetal life after viability as a compelling interest, the justices have never said it is the only one.
 * The legislatures passing these laws say that preventing this pain is a compelling state interest that justifies prohibiting abortion.
 * The Nebraska bill states that “by twenty weeks after fertilization there is substantial evidence that an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain.”
 * In constitutional law parlance, only at this viability point does the state’s interest in preserving fetal life become “compelling.”
 * Most medical professionals agree that viability begins at 23 to 24 weeks into pregnancy.
 * Since //Roe v. Wade//, the Supreme Court has consistently held that the Constitution permits states to prohibit abortion (as opposed to limiting the procedure used) only in order to preserve fetal life after the fetus is capable of surviving outside the womb.
 * Arizona’s new abortion law will outlaw the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
 * Like-minded laws have been enacted in Nebraska, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Georgia and Louisiana, and a bill similarly limiting abortion in the District drew support Tuesday from a majority of the U.S. House, but not from enough members to pass.