Introduction

Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-08) introduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the 114th Congress on January 7, 2015. Upon introduction he released the following statement:

Congressman Franks:
“More than 18,000 ‘very late term’ abortions are performed every year on perfectly healthy, pain-capable unborn babies in America. These are innocent and defenseless children who can not only feel pain, but who can survive outside of the womb in many cases, and who are torturously killed without even basic anesthesia. Many of them cry and scream as they die, but because it is amniotic fluid going over their vocal cords instead of air, we don’t hear them.

“Late term abortion in America has its defenders, but no true or principled defense. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act seeks to afford basic protection to mothers and their unborn children entering the sixth month of gestation.

“I would just deeply encourage all interested parties, including fair-minded reporters, to simply read this bill. It is one all humane Americans can support if they understand it for themselves.

“Throughout America’s history, the hearts of the American people have been moved with compassion when they discover a theretofore hidden class of victims, once they grasp both the humanity of the victims and the inhumanity of what is being done to them.

“America is on the cusp of another such realization.”