Judge Asks Doctor if Fetus Can Feel Pain

[MDM4AU 338]

Judge Asks Doctor if Fetus Can Feel Pain

NEW YORK (AP)--In questioning that at times turned graphic, a judge deciding the constitutionality of a new ban on some abortions grilled a doctor Wednesday on whether a fetus feels pain during the procedures.

The inquiry came in U.S. District Court in Manhattan after lawyers on both sides had finished questioning Dr. Timothy Johnson, a plaintiff in one of three lawsuits brought to stop enforcement of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

``Does the fetus feel pain?'' Judge Richard C. Casey asked Johnson, saying he had been told studies of a form of abortion usually performed in the second trimester had concluded they do.

Johnson said he did not know, adding he knew of no scientific research on the subject.

The judge then pressed Johnson on whether he ever thought about fetal pain while performing abortions involving dismemberment. Another doctor a day earlier had testified that a fetus sometimes does not immediately die after its limbs are pulled off.

``Simple question, doctor,'' the judge told Johnson. ``Does it cross your mind?''

Johnson said it did not.

``Never crossed your mind?'' the judge asked again.

``No,'' Johnson answered.

The exchange touched a key element of the government's argument that the ban blocks a particularly gruesome type of abortion that causes pain to the fetus and is not needed to protect a woman's health because other options are safer.

AJC.com

[DKW 86 7,899]

Was this ABC News' Tim Johnson?

I wouldnt be surprised...

[TitanTiger 21,241]

Amazing. It almost makes me physically ill when I think of how people make decisions like this, and will stand in firm opposition to any restriction on their ability to perform these barbaric procedures, and never even consider whether the baby is feeling pain or not. Stunning.

But then again, which is worse...not stopping to consider the issue of whether the baby feels pain, or thinking about it first but going ahead with the procedure anyway.

[GoAU 1,694]

There are very few things that turn my stomach and make me feel ill - this is definitely one of them.