Utah abortion providers puzzled by how to obey law fixing an imaginary problem

New rule means doctors must prescribe unnecessary treatment based
on idea fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks – which medical authorities
do not endorse

Molly Redden
Wednesday 30 March 2016 22.40 BST

How do you satisfy a law when the law requires you to solve an imaginary problem?

That is the quandary abortion providers say they find themselves in now that the governor of Utah has signed a law forcing providers to prevent fetal pain in terminations.

The restriction, which will apply after the fetus reaches 20 weeks, is the first of its kind. And it has caused a familiar uproar about unnecessary meddling by lawmakers in a procedure they barely understand.

But there is another problem with the law, abortion providers say: a total lack of medical guidance for how doctors might fulfill its requirements.

“It’s a head-scratcher as a doctor, because we don’t even know how to follow this law,” said Dr Anne Davis, the medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health and a practicing abortion provider. “The law says we have to give anesthesia to the fetus because the fetus might feel pain. OK, how do you address a concern that is purely theoretical?”

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