WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. In signing the law, Governor Bentley remarked, "I believe that life begins at conception and I signed this bill to further commit my promise to protect the life of an unborn child." The state legislature last week passed the measure which protects from abortion the unborn child capable of feeling pain Alabama becomes the fifth state to enact the protective law.
"We commend Governor Bentley for quickly signing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act making Alabama the fifth state to recognize the compelling interest the state has in protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain," said Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). "We are encouraged by the growing trend to enact the model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and other pro-life laws that protect unborn children and help their mothers."
In all, 50 Alabama legislators co-sponsored the model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which, as drafted by the National Right to Life Committee’s state legislation department, protects the life of the unborn child at the point that they are capable of feeling pain, except when the mother "has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or...it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child."
Further documentation on the science behind the pain of the unborn child is available here:
"Today is a good day for unborn children in Alabama," said Cheryl Ciamarra, Alabama Citizens for Life national director. "We are proud of our pro-life state legislators and pro-life Governor Bentley for protecting pain-capable unborn children. Special thanks go to House Speaker Mike Hubbard for making this legislation a priority and to the main sponsors, Rep. Kerry Rich (Albertville) and Sen. Scott Beason (Gardendale)."
The Nebraska legislature enacted the law last year. During this year's spring legislative session three other states, in addition to Alabama, have passed the law: Idaho, Kansas and Oklahoma. The National Right to Life model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is currently under consideration in Oregon, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
The National Right to Life Committee NRLC, the federation of 50 state right-to-life organizations and more than 3,000 local chapters nationwide, is the nation’s largest pro-life group. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
