Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on Thursday signed legislation (HF 139) that will require doctors to tell women seeking abortion after 20 weeks gestation that fetuses might feel pain during the procedure and offer them the option of fetal anesthesia, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Under the Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act -- passed as part of a larger health and human services appropriations bill -- physicians who fail to offer fetal pain information or fetal anesthesia could face civil charges (Hopfensperger, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/16). The law -- which goes into effect on Aug. 1 -- also states that if the woman requests an anesthetic for the fetus, the physician must disclose any additional costs (HF 139 text, 7/19). In addition, the state Department of Health will post on its Web site the statement, "Some experts have concluded the unborn child feels physical pain after 20 weeks gestation. Other experts have concluded pain is felt later in gestational development. This issue may need further study."

Law's Effects
The measure has raised questions among state physicians, who are unclear about who should inject the anesthesia, how much anesthesia should be administered and how the effectiveness of fetal anesthesia can be measured. "I think we're all in favor of making sure a fetus doesn't feel pain, but it's not such a simple issue," Daniel Landers, director of maternal and fetal medicine at Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis, said, adding, "We don't have enough information on how to regulate or diminish pain in a fetus, in terms of drugs, dosing, methods of administration and ability to discern its effectiveness." However, Scott Fischbach, executive director of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said the bill strengthens the existing state law, which requires doctors to give women seeking abortion certain information about abortion and pregnancy before performing the procedure. "Women already are being told that the baby can feel pain," he said adding, "Now they're given the option to alleviate that pain." Only 171 of the 13,788 abortions in Minnesota in 2004 were on fetuses of at least 20 weeks gestation, and most abortion clinics in the state do not offer the procedure after the first trimester, according to Sarah Stoesz, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota-North Dakota-South Dakota (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/16).