A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect pain- 
capable unborn children, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Pain-Capa-
ble Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF 
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY FOR ENACT-
MENT. 
Congress finds and declares the following: 
(1) Medical and other authorities now know 
more about human prenatal development than ever 
before including that— 
(A) an unborn child begins to move about 
in the womb and reacts to touch at approxi-
mately 8 weeks gestation; 
(B) the eyes begin to form at 5 weeks ges-
tation and finish forming by 10 weeks gesta-
tion; eye movements can be detected by 
ultrasound at 12 weeks gestation; 
(C) by 8 to 9 weeks gestation, the unborn 
child has detectable brain waves; 
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(D) at 9 weeks gestation, an unborn child’s 
diaphragm is developing, and he or she may 
even hiccup, and he or she is beginning to move 
about freely in the womb; 
(E) at 9 to 11 weeks gestation, teeth as 
well as external genitalia begin to form; 
(F) by 10 weeks gestation all of an unborn 
child’s organ rudiments are formed and in 
place, the digestive system and kidneys start to 
function at this time, and the unborn child will 
show a preference for either right handedness 
or left handedness; 
(G) at 12 weeks gestation, an unborn child 
can open and close his or her fingers, starts to 
make sucking motions, senses stimulation from 
the world outside the womb, and fingernails and 
fingerprints begin to form; and 
(H) the Supreme Court has acknowledged 
that, by at least 12 weeks gestation, an unborn 
child has taken on ‘‘the human form’’ in all rel-
evant aspects (Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 
124, 160 (2007)). 
(2) Pain receptors (nociceptors) begin forming 
at 7 weeks gestational age. Nerves linking these pain 
receptors to the brain’s thalamus and subcortical 
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plate form between 12 and 20 weeks gestational age. 
It is no later than 16 weeks gestational age that the 
first contact occurs between the subcortical plate 
and these forming fibers. 
(3) In considering the use of anesthesia for 
invasive medical procedures performed on the fetus, 
evidence has concluded that from as early as 12 
weeks, and certainly by 15 weeks gestational age on-
ward, the fetus is extremely sensitive to painful 
stimuli, making it necessary to apply adequate anal-
gesia and anesthesia to prevent fetal suffering. 
(4) Substantial evidence indicates that neural 
elements, such as the thalamus and subcortical 
plate, develop at specific times during the early de-
velopment of an unborn child, serve as pain-proc-
essing structures, and are different from the neural 
elements used for pain processing by adults. Recent 
evidence, particularly since 2016, demonstrates that 
structures responsible for pain show signs of suffi-
cient maturation from 15 weeks of gestation and 
thereafter. 
(5) In the unborn child, application of such 
painful stimuli is associated with significant in-
creases in stress hormones known as the stress re-
sponse. 
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(6) Subjection to such painful stimuli is associ-
ated with long-term harmful neurodevelopmental ef-
fects, such as altered pain sensitivity and, possibly, 
emotional, behavioral, and learning disabilities later 
in life. 
(7) For the purposes of surgery on unborn chil-
dren, fetal anesthesia is routinely administered and 
is associated with a decrease in stress hormones 
compared to their level when painful stimuli are ap-
plied without such anesthesia. 
(8) The assertion by some medical experts that 
the unborn child is incapable of experiencing pain 
until a point in pregnancy later than 24 weeks ges-
tational age predominately rests on the assumption 
that the ability to experience pain depends on the 
cerebral cortex and requires nerve connections be-
tween the thalamus and the cortex. However, recent 
medical research and analysis, especially since 2007, 
provides strong evidence for the conclusion that a 
functioning cortex is not necessary to experience 
pain. 
(9) Substantial evidence indicates that children 
born missing the bulk of the cerebral cortex, such as 
those with hydranencephaly, nevertheless experience 
pain. 
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(10) In adult humans and in animals, stimula-
tion or ablation of the cerebral cortex does not alter 
pain perception, while stimulation or ablation of the 
thalamus does. 
(11) The assertion of some medical experts that 
the unborn child remains in a coma-like sleep state 
that precludes the unborn child from experiencing 
pain is inconsistent with the documented reaction of 
unborn children to painful stimuli and with the expe-
rience of fetal surgeons who have found it necessary 
to sedate an unborn child with anesthesia and pro-
vide analgesia to prevent the unborn child from en-
gaging in vigorous movement in reaction to invasive 
surgery. 
(12) Consequently, there is substantial medical 
evidence that an unborn child is capable of experi-
encing pain at least by 15 weeks gestational age, if 
not earlier. 
(13) Abortion carries significant physical and 
psychological risks to the pregnant woman, and 
these physical and psychological risks increase with 
gestational age. 
(14) The majority of abortion procedures per-
formed after 15 weeks gestation are dismemberment 
abortion procedures which involve the use of surgical 
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