Americans love their reality TV, but when it comes to the reality of what happens in the country's abortion clinics, they tune out. While the clinics may not all be as filthy as Kermit Gosnell's, the reality of what happens there is still the same: babies born alive die painful and violent deaths. No one really knows how many children are killed by barbarians like Gosnell and Douglas Karpen, a Texas abortionist so sadistic that employees say he broke the necks of newborns with his bare hands. But what we do know from the testimony of experts is that every baby whose life is ended by abortion after 18 weeks--whether in the womb or in the abortion room--feels the pain of death.

Studies agree that babies respond to invasive procedures with elevated heart rates and the secretion of stress hormones. In other words, these little children can feel pain just as easily as they can yawn or smile. Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, who 30 years ago became one of the first to research fetal pain, has testified that nerve endings in a developing child spread to all parts of the skin and tissues by the 20^th week. Some scientists even believe that babies at this stage can feel pain more acutely than a full-term newborn. Why? Because they have the highest number of pain receptors per square inch at this stage, and the fibers that help ... (more)