Bill would require doctors to offer anaesthesia to later-term fetuses before abortion

03/24/2005

Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune
March 24, 2005

Doctors would be required to offer anesthesia to late-term fetuses before performing an abortion, under a bill overwhelmingly approved by a key House committee today.

The “Unborn Child Pain Prevention act” would require doctors intending to abort a fetus at least 20 weeks old to tell the mother if anesthesia could eliminate fetal pain, and then administer the anesthesia if requested.

Physicians who didn’t offer the information or anesthesia would face felony charges. And the mother or father of the fetus, as well as grandparents, could sue the doctor for punitive damages.

The bill is needed because a growing number of studies show that fetuses can feel pain, said Jackie Moen, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), which has made the bill a priority this session.

“An unborn child has less protection from pain. ... than commercial livestock,” Moen told the House Health Policy and Finance Committee, which approved the measure 11-4 .

If , it becomes law it would be the first of its kind in the nation, said Moen, although other states are looking at similar measures.

The Minnesota Medical Association opposed the bill, in part because of the felony penalties and in part because it interferes with doctor-patient relationships, said Dave Renner, a spokesman for the group.

The association, in general, opposes bills mandating that doctors provide specific information, and to all patients regardless of circumstances, Renner said. Plus “science changes,” he said, and future research could show fetal pain begins earlier or later than 20 weeks.

NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota, the major abortion rights lobby in the state, is not taking a position on the bill, said its executive director, Tim Stanley.

“Fetal pain is a serious issue,” said Stanley. “We think women have the right to all accurate, medically necessary information. And we trust doctors to provide that information.”

The bill will be included in the health omnibus spending bill, said the committee chairman Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester. A Senate companion bill has not been heard in committee.

The fetal pain bill was one of three bills championed by abortion opponents that the committee took up. It also passed new reporting requirements for judges who approve abortions for minor girls in lieu of parental notification.

Under Minnesota law, minors must notify their parents 48 hours before getting an abortion. However, the law allows minors to seek court permission to have an abortion without notifying their parents.

The provision was meant to help girls who had been victims of incest or difficult family circumstances. Abortion opponents say it’s been abused, and supported the bill that would require abortion providers to report to the Minnesota Department of Health the total number of abortions performed with judicial bypasses each year, as well as the girls’ ages, race, county of residence and other information.

NARAL’s Stanley argued that the bill was an attempt to intimidate judges approving the abortions, and could ultimately affect the safety of those judges.

A committee vote on another abortion bill, which would limit state family planning dollars to agencies that don’t mention, refer for or perform abortions, was held over to next week.