A bill to strictly limit abortions after 22 weeks based on disputed research that fetuses can feel pain is on its way to Gov. Sam Brownback, who has indicated he will sign it into law.
A second bill to require consent of both parents for minors to get an abortion and to require doctors to provide the state with more detailed records for abortions also is headed to the governor.
The House approved minor changes in both bills today.
House Bill 2218, the fetal pain bill, represents a significant tightening of the availability of late-term abortions. It would place strict limits on abortions after 22 weeks based on disputed research that fetuses can feel pain at that point of development.
The final vote to send the fetal pain bill to the governor was 94-28.
"This is a significant advancement in the public discourse that the child in the mother's womb is a living human being," said Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire. "Before, viability was defined by our ability to keep a child alive outside the womb based on the existing technology, not the development of the human being. This provides a more appropriate benchmark for late-term abortions.
"It is past due and appropriate that this kind of legislation should be passed in state legislatures across the country," he said.
Opponents attempted once again to dispute the research that is the basis of HB 2218.
"No one really knows and it's based on false research," said Rep. Barbara Bollier, R-Mission Hills. "It's not universally held and I would be embarrassed to be a state that bases its laws on untruths."
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