Unborn babies may be able to feel pain before reaching 24 weeks, say scientists – meaning they could suffer as they are being aborted.Until now, the consensus of medical opinion has been that foetuses cannot feel pain before 24 weeks' gestation, after which abortion is illegal in Britain except in special cases.But two medical researchers, including a 'pro-choice' British pain expert who used to think there was no chance foetuses could feel pain that early, say recent studies strongly suggest the assumption is incorrect.The studies indicate unborn babies might be able to feel 'something like pain' as early as 13 weeks, they say. Women going for abortions who have reached this stage of pregnancy should be told the foetus could experience pain while being terminated, they argue. And medical staff should ask if the woman wants it to be given pain relief.To carry on regardless of new evidence 'flirts with moral recklessness', they write in the influential Journal of Medical Ethics.Last night, anti-abortionists said the scientists' claims should change attitudes towards abortion and the practice of it – suggestions that were swiftly rejected by the country's biggest abortion provider, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. The lead author of the controversial article is British professor Stuart Derbyshire, who has acted as a consultant to the Pro-Choice Forum in the UK and Planned Parenthood, a leading American pro-choice organisation.In 2006, he wrote in the British Medical Journal that avoiding talking to women seeking abortions about foetal pain was 'sound policy based on good evidence that foetuses cannot experience pain'. Share this article Share But in the JME article, he and American medic John Bockmann say there is now 'good evidence' that the brain and nervous system are sufficiently wired up by 18 weeks for the foetus to feel pain.Specifically, it has been thought that the cortex, the outer brain layer that deals with sensory information, is not developed enough for pain to register.As a result, 'many medical bodies… state that pain is not possible before 24 weeks' gestation'. However, recent studies clearly show 'that the consensus is no longer valid', they argue.One study found an adult with an extensively damaged cortex could still feel pain.The two medics say their own 'stark differences' on the morality of abortion 'should not interfere with discussion of whether foetal pain is possible'.Given recent advances in understanding, 'acting as if we have certainty' that foetuses cannot feel pain before 24 weeks 'flirts with a moral recklessness that we are motivated to avoid'.Their conclusions raise grave questions for the UK's abortion industry, which carried out 218,281 terminations in 2018 – almost a quarter (23 per cent) of all pregnancies. About 6,000 abortions are carried out annually at 18 weeks or later.Professor Derbyshire and Dr Bockmann advise: 'Given the evidence that the foetus might be able to experience something like
Unborn babies MAY feel pain before the 24-week abortion limit
Unborn babies may be able to feel pain before reaching 24 weeks, say scientists – meaning they could suffer as they are being aborted.Until now, the consensus of medical opinion has been that foetuses cannot feel pain before 24 weeks' gestation, after which abortion is illegal in Britain except in special cases.But two medical researchers, including a 'pro-choice' British pain expert who used to think there was no chance foetuses could feel pain that early, say recent studies strongly suggest the assumption is incorrect.The studies indicate unborn babies might be able to feel 'something like pain' as early as 13 weeks, they say. Women going for abortions who have reached this stage of pregnancy should be told the foetus could experience pain while being terminated, they argue. And medical staff should ask if the woman wants it to be given pain relief.To carry on regardless of new evidence 'flirts with moral recklessness', they write in the influential Journal of Medical Ethics.Last night, anti-abortionists said the scientists' claims should change attitudes towards abortion and the practice of it – suggestions that were swiftly rejected by the country's biggest abortion provider, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. The lead author of the controversial article is British professor Stuart Derbyshire, who has acted as a consultant to the Pro-Choice Forum in the UK and Planned Parenthood, a leading American pro-choice organisation.In 2006, he wrote in the British Medical Journal that avoiding talking to women seeking abortions about foetal pain was 'sound policy based on good evidence that foetuses cannot experience pain'. Share this article Share But in the JME article, he and American medic John Bockmann say there is now 'good evidence' that the brain and nervous system are sufficiently wired up by 18 weeks for the foetus to feel pain.Specifically, it has been thought that the cortex, the outer brain layer that deals with sensory information, is not developed enough for pain to register.As a result, 'many medical bodies… state that pain is not possible before 24 weeks' gestation'. However, recent studies clearly show 'that the consensus is no longer valid', they argue.One study found an adult with an extensively damaged cortex could still feel pain.The two medics say their own 'stark differences' on the morality of abortion 'should not interfere with discussion of whether foetal pain is possible'.Given recent advances in understanding, 'acting as if we have certainty' that foetuses cannot feel pain before 24 weeks 'flirts with a moral recklessness that we are motivated to avoid'.Their conclusions raise grave questions for the UK's abortion industry, which carried out 218,281 terminations in 2018 – almost a quarter (23 per cent) of all pregnancies. About 6,000 abortions are carried out annually at 18 weeks or later.Professor Derbyshire and Dr Bockmann advise: 'Given the evidence that the foetus might be able to experience something like
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