Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2006

UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2006)

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Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, recent advances in ultrasound technology have shown that unborn babies have the ability to recognize and respond to positive and negative stimuli. In fact, researchers, scientists now know that unborn children smile and cry. For years doctors have thought that babies learn to smile from mimicking their parents. However, researchers now know that an unborn child can be seen smiling in the womb months before it was thought babies could make such expressions.

One of the London-based researchers, Dr. Stuart Campbell, said: ``It is remarkable that a newborn baby does not smile for about 6 weeks after birth. Before birth most babies smile frequently. This may indicate a baby's calm, trouble-free existence in the womb, and the relatively traumatic first few weeks after the birth when the baby is reacting to a strange, new environment.''

Another group of researchers in New Zealand were testing the effects of maternal smoking and drug use on unborn children. The co-author of the study, Dr. Edward Mitchell of the University in Auckland, stated that the research shows the baby has the necessary sensory and brain development to process the offending sound and recognize it as something negative.

Researchers observed deep inhalations and exhalations, open mouth, quivering chin, with the low decibel noise on the abdomen. There were many experiments that were done, but if unborn children can recognize positive and negative stimuli in utero, imagine the excruciating pain that must be felt during abortions.

I urge you to support the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act.

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