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Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would require doctors to give women who are seeking an abortion information on her fetus's ability to feel pain. KSMU's Missy Shelton reports.
The requirement would apply to women who want an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation.
Under the bill, doctors would have to give these women information on the fetuses ability to feel pain...Physicians also would have to offer to give the fetus pain medicine before performing the abortion.
The bill sponsor is Republican Senator Chuck Gross.
He told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the bill that in some other procedures, doctors do administer pain medication to fetuses.
At a hearing on the bill, only one person spoke against it.
Mary Mosley represents the Missouri Women's Network.
But supporters of the bill say women who seek abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy need this information in order to make an informed decision.
Susan Klein is executive director of Missouri Right to Life.
She says medical evidence suggests after 20 weeks, the fetus is able to feel pain.
While Klein gave members of the Judiciary Committee information on studies she says supports the idea that fetuses feel pain, opponents site other research.
Traci Gleason is Public Affairs Director for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
She says lawmakers shouldn't require doctors to give information to women that is not supported by the medical community. She points to an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Under the bill, the state Department of Health would have the responsibility of writing the information that doctors would have to present to their patients.
The proposal is up for a vote in the senate committee.
