Contact: Stacey Holliday, Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 /Standard Newswire/ -- A significant pro-life bill, which would have protected unborn babies, failed today by a vote of 250 to 162 in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, H.R. 6099, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) would have required abortionists to notify their patients that an unborn child as young as 20 weeks old undergoes excruciating pain during an abortion.  The bill would also have required abortionists to provide patients with a consent form requesting or refusing anesthesia for the unborn baby.

CWA President Wendy Wright said, "Abortion not only kills a baby, it tortures them.  Women deserve full information before making a life-altering decision that will end their baby's life and haunt them forever.  We hope that women will have compassion on their child when they learn their baby will experience extreme pain and choose instead for their baby to feel the loving touch of an embrace.  Regrettably, congressmen – many who denounced the use of torture against suspected terrorists – have voted to not let women know that abortion will torture their innocent unborn babies."

"There are strict federal humane slaughter rules which mandate that animals experience death in the least painful way possible.  Unborn human babies deserve that courtesy times ten," said Lanier Swann, CWA's Director of Government Relations.  "Women deserve to know the facts about the way their baby will suffer if they choose to end its precious life.  Far fewer women would be stepping into that procedure room if they knew their baby would physically suffer the consequences of their decision.  Evidence shows that the baby feels the pain even more acutely than the mother.  An informed mother might think twice before letting an abortionist inflict this inhumane torture on her child.

"Rep. Smith showed great leadership in introducing this bill and we applaud him for his efforts.  Rep. Smith, along with his colleagues who voted to pass this bill, recognizes the value of human life.  It is disheartening that some elected officials do not hold to that same standard," said Swann.   

Concerned Women for America (CWA) is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.