Dear CWA of Virginia friend,
As you all know, our 2017 Legislative Session kicked off last week, and Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Virginia commends Delegate Dave LaRock (R-House District 33) for introducing HB 1473, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. HB 1473 is a crucial step to ensuring protection for innocent life in the womb as it protects babies at 20 weeks’ gestation, or when a baby feels excruciating pain.
The bill has not yet been assigned to a committee and we need YOU to call and/or email the Speaker of the House, Bill Howell (R-House District 28), and urge him to assign the bill to a committee for a vote.
Why should you get involved? Take a look this crucial research which supports the need for Pain-Capable legislation:
- Unborn children have pain receptors (nociceptors) present throughout their entire body and nerves link these receptors to the brain’s thalamus and subcortical plate by no later than 20 weeks.
- The unborn child reacts to touch by 8 weeks after fertilization.
- After 20 weeks, the unborn child reacts to stimuli that would be recognized as painful if applied to an adult, for example, by recoiling.
- In the unborn child, application of such painful stimuli is associated with significant increases in stress hormones known as the stress response.
- For the purposes of surgery on unborn children, fetal anesthesia is routinely administered and is associated with a decrease in stress hormones compared to their level when painful stimuli are applied without such anesthesia.
- Consequently, there is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization.
- Therefore, Virginia has a compelling interest in protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.
- Polls by Quinnipiac, National Journal, Huffington Post, NBC News/Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post/ABC News have all revealed: A majority of Americans support limiting abortion after 20 weeks.
- A study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute has shown the United States is one of just seven countries worldwide that permits abortion beyond 20 weeks. Other countries include: China, North Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands.
And most importantly, life in the womb matters to our God. Therefore, please pray and act TODAY and make your voice heard!
PRAY: Please pray that HB 1473 is assigned a committee and passes and that Virginia would be a state that protects life from conception to natural death.
ACT:
- Please call and/or email the Speaker of the House, Delegate Bill Howell today and tell him you are a member of Concerned Women for America, and then ask him to assign the bill to a committee for a vote.
House Speaker Bill Howell (R-House District 28), phone: 804-698-1028; email: DelWHowell@house.virginia.gov
- Then, call Delegate LaRock and thank him for introducing this excellent legislation.
Del. David LaRock (R-House District 33), phone: (804) 698-1033; email: DelDLaRock@house.virginia.gov
Thank you in advance – you are impacting Virginia with Biblical principles!
Hannah Ellis
National Field Director
Concerned Women for America