Post by Logan on May 11, 2016 1:02:59 GMT -6
Doctors unsure how to comply with new 'unnecessary' Utah fetal pain law
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's first-in-the-nation requirement that fetuses receive anesthesia or painkillers before some abortions takes effect Tuesday, but doctors say it's unnecessary and impossible to comply with.
The law requires pain relief for a fetus before any abortion at 20 weeks of gestation or later, based on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that stage.
Doctors say such pain relief is futile, and there is no science or medicine laying out how they're supposed to administer it.
"The pain doesn't exist, so I can't make it go away," said David Turok of the University of Utah's obstetrics and gynecology department.
Read more: www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/doctors-unsure-how-to-comply-with-new-unnecessary-utah-fetal/article_b28a6b9a-2494-51dd-bb05-12ece4e8cc0b.html
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's first-in-the-nation requirement that fetuses receive anesthesia or painkillers before some abortions takes effect Tuesday, but doctors say it's unnecessary and impossible to comply with.
The law requires pain relief for a fetus before any abortion at 20 weeks of gestation or later, based on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that stage.
Doctors say such pain relief is futile, and there is no science or medicine laying out how they're supposed to administer it.
"The pain doesn't exist, so I can't make it go away," said David Turok of the University of Utah's obstetrics and gynecology department.
Read more: www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/doctors-unsure-how-to-comply-with-new-unnecessary-utah-fetal/article_b28a6b9a-2494-51dd-bb05-12ece4e8cc0b.html