Lame Duck House Fails to Pass Abortion Anesthesia Bill

A Victory for Women, a Defeat for the Parting GOP-Led Congress

December 6, 2006

The House of Representatives today defeated H.R. 6099, the fetal anesthesia bill. Though the bill did not get the two-thirds vote necessary to pass (required because the House was operating under a suspension of the rules), it is still disturbing that this deceptive, scientifically unsound bill received ANY votes.

"This legislation was designed to intimidate women," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "The promoters of H.R. 6099 oppose birth control, they oppose the morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy, and they oppose abortion for any reason. I can't say goodbye to this Congress soon enough."

H.R. 6099 was deceptive from the start: The misnamed "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act" would have forced physicians to provide manipulative and misleading information to women seeking abortions at 20 weeks or more after fertilization. The bill called for doctors to urge patients to read a brochure with language scripted by anti-abortion legislators, not physicians.

Despite the inability to support such a claim medically, the text of the brochure would have told each woman that "your unborn child" will experience pain while "being killed in an abortion." The doctor would then be required to offer the woman anesthesia or another "pain reducing drug" to be administered directly to the fetus, or advise her of a facility capable of doing so. Little or no information about the health risk of this anesthesia to the woman is required.

Beyond the direct impact on women seeking abortions and the requirements placed on doctors, the legislation would have ultimately reduced women's access to abortion. How many doctors have the resources, training and insurance coverage to administer anesthesia to a fetus in their office or clinic? This could more than double the cost of the procedure and make it even more difficult for women with limited economic means to afford the additional cost of fetal anesthesia and/or travel to an equipped provider.

Just days before relinquishing control of Congress, right wing leaders used this bill as a last ditch effort to push a top item on their agenda -- to overturn Roe v. Wade and make all abortions illegal.

"Abortion and birth control opponents want to see how far they can go in limiting women's rights and they won't stop -- ever," said Gandy. "We must be prepared to say 'no' again and again and again. It's the only way we won't wake up some day and find that our rights have been taken away."

With at least 20 new reproductive rights supporters entering the 110th Congress, the fetal anesthesia bill is unlikely to come up in the next session. NOW thanks the 162 members in the House who voted against H.R. 6099, knowing that it would put women's health at risk and add another barrier to abortion access. Though only three representatives spoke against the bill on the floor, opponents of H.R. 6099 included almost all of the women's rights and reproductive rights groups across the nation. NOW called on our grassroots, who responded in force and helped defeat this dangerous bill.

Though NOW is looking forward to a new Congress in January, we fully realize that women's rights advocates cannot sit back and relax. NOW will continue to let our elected officials know that we will not go back. With House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at the helm, we look forward to working with Congress to help protect and advance women's rights.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Bennett, 202-628-8669, ext. 123; cell 301-537-7429

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