Date published: 2005/08/24
The BBC says:
Foetuses cannot feel pain until the last few weeks of a pregnancy, a review of medical evidence has concluded.
The paper, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was prompted by proposed federal legislation in the US.
It would require doctors to tell women having an abortion from the 20th week of pregnancy that the foetus felt pain.
But the University of California team said foetuses would only have that capacity at 29 to 30 weeks gestation.
A full-term pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks.
The researchers say there is only limited data available on this issue.
But, writing in JAMA, they say pain requires the conscious recognition of an unpleasant stimulus.
This cannot happen until certain brain structures connecting the thalamus and the cerebral cortex develop during the third trimester of pregnancy.
These connections are not usually apparent until the 23rd week of pregnancy and may not begin to be made until the 30th week.
Interesting but the anti-abortion people will care less. They have been unsuccessful at stopping abortion completely so instead they are trying to chip at it from various directions to limit the numbers of abortions, and the proposed legislation is just part of their campaign of harrassment to achieve this end.
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