North Dakota House Backs Bill Telling Women Abortion Kills a Human Being

North Dakota House Backs Bill Telling Women Abortion Kills a Human Being

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 16, 2009


Bismarck, ND (LifeNews.com) -- The North Dakota House has approved a measure requiring abortion practitioners to tell women that abortion kills a human being and that human life begins at the point of conception. Those are pieces of information that women considering an abortion are rarely told beforehand.

Members of the chamber voted 61-31 to endorse the measure, HB 1445, which now heads to the state Senate for consideration.

Hampden Rep. Chuck Damschen says the bill is meant to provide women with more information and to further reduce the number of abortions taking place in the state.

HB 1445 would direct the abortion practitioner to tell women that an abortion will terminate the life of a "whole, separate, unique, living human being."

Tom Freier of the North Dakota Family Alliance says his group supports the bill as another way to help women understand the reality of an abortion.

"As obvious as this disclosure is, it is necessary for the woman to be fully informed before giving her ‘informed consent’ to this procedure which will terminate the life of this unborn little boy or girl," he told LifeNews.com.

The vote follows one earlier this month when the House passed HB 1371 on a strongly bipartisan 77-9 vote. That was a measure allowing women a chance to see an ultrasound of their baby prior to an abortion. The measure is designed to help women learn the humanity of their unborn child and to consider abortion alternatives.

While most abortion businesses do an ultrasound before an abortion is done on a woman and her unborn child, that doesn't mean the mother will have a chance to see it. Rep. Bette Grande, a Republican sponsoring House Bill 1371, hopes to change that.

Her legislation would offer women a chance to see an ultrasound in the same way she would be able to see an x-ray prior to other medical procedures.

The full House vote came after the House Human Services Committee voted 13-0 in favor of the pro-life bill.

Pro-life advocates say the bill is important because the Red River Women’s Clinic is expected to set a record for the number of abortions it is doing annually.

The abortion center has been doing abortions for just over ten years and did a record 1,358 abortions in 2003 and another 1,238 abortions last year.

Related web sites:
North Dakota Legislature - http://www.legis.nd.gov
North Dakota Right to Life - http://www.ndrl.org
North Dakota Family Alliance - http://www.ndfa.org