The â??fetal painâ? legislation introduced in Congress and the state legislatures directs physicians to tell women that a fetus can feel pain at a particular time in gestation, often as early as 20 weeks. But science and medicine are uncertain on this point, and as evidence mounts, medical opinion evolves.
It is a fundamental mistake for legislatures to pronounce upon scientific disputes. They have neither the expertise to make such judgments nor a mechanism to revise these judgments as new evidence emerges. Indeed, such legislation is more likely motivated by a desire to halt abortions than by a desire to give women accurate information.
Such interference is an insult to physicians (who apparently cannot be trusted to give women accurate information) and to women (who apparently cannot be trusted to evaluate this information). The doctorâ??s office is no place to play politics with the truth.
R. ALTA CHARO
Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law and Bioethics
University of Wisconsin Law School