Fetal pain

Fetal pain is any discomfort or pain that a fetus may feel during gestation or if it were to be aborted. Fetal pain, although disputed among the scientific community, is often considered a key argument among pro-lifers who insist that fetuses feel pain.[1][2] It is commonly used within the pro-life movement as an appeal to emotion. Pro-lifers claim that fetal pain is complementary to their argument that fetuses do possess sensory perception and must not be made to suffer, which few in the pro-choice movement disagree with.

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US Legislators, at both the State and Federal level, have used the "fetal pain" argument as a way to bypass Roe v. Wade. Largely, this attempt is based on pseudoscience [3], and each law so far written, that places fetal rights above a woman's in the first 24 weeks, have failed in Courts.

There are slightly conflicting professional opinions in the medical community as to when fetuses are generally capable of feeling pain. According to a June 25th, 2010 report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (UK), fetuses cannot process pain until 30 weeks or so. It is important to make the distinction between 'feeling' and 'processing', in any kind of argument that might be used to indicate awareness. The typical argument for why a child cannot process pain prior to 30 weeks has to do with the development of the neurological centers of the brain that respond to pain.[4] There are functioning nerves within the fetus body prior to 30 weeks of development, some studies suggest as early as 20 weeks. These are autolocative responses ("reflexes") which cause muscles to contract or "withdraw" from stimulus. However, any discussion of "pain" must be accompanied by a discussion of "awareness".[5] For example, studies of individuals in comas show that while patient's nervous system is clearly intact, the brain itself does not appear to respond to pain sensations.[note 1]

Fetal pain has never been a matter of merit in any US court decision on abortion, including Roe v. Wade, although Nebraska currently uses (and is the only state to do so) fetal pain as a reason to limit abortions.[6] The current standard in abortion restrictions is viability, or when a fetus is able to survive outside the womb — generally at 22 to 24 weeks, but is different for each pregnancy.[7]

Notes
  1. As with all studies of the brain through PET scans and fMRI, these studies are preliminary and should be understood in the context of the field as "suggestive", not "conclusive".
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References
  1. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2466:
  2. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/10/4/gpr100406.html
  3. http://www.salon.com/2013/08/07/fetal_pain_is_a_lie_how_phony_science_took_over_the_abortion_debate/
  4. Fetal Pain: a systematic multidisciplinary study, 2005
  5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16269314?dopt=Abstract
  6. Nebraska to limit abortions over fetal pain
  7. Fetal viability (British Medical Association)
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