Health

Unborn babies may feel pain before 24-week abortion limit, scientists claim


SCIENTISTS claim unborn babies may be able to feel pain before reaching 24 weeks – meaning they may suffer before being aborted.

Medical opinion has said that a foetus will not experience pain before reaching 24 weeks – after which abortion is illegal in Britain except in special cases.

 A controversial new study claims a foetus can "feel something like pain" before the 24 week abortion time limit

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A controversial new study claims a foetus can “feel something like pain” before the 24 week abortion time limitCredit: Getty Images – Getty

But two medical researchers say recent studies strongly suggest the assumption is incorrect – and that research indicates unborn babies may feel ‘something like pain’ as early as 13 weeks gestation.

In a paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics (JME), the pair argue that women who opt for abortions that have reached 13 weeks should be informed the foetus could experience pain while being aborted.

They also say medical staff should ask if the woman wants the foetus to be given pain relief.

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 and American medic John Bockmann.

The pair claim that to ignore the new evidence “flirts with moral recklessness”.

They 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.

Their conclusions raise grave questions for the UK’s abortion industry, which carried out 218,281 terminations in 2018.

That number equates to almost a quarter – or 23 percent – of all pregnancies. About 6,000 abortions are carried out annually at 18 weeks or later.

Professor Derbyshire and Dr Bockmann wrote: “Given the evidence that the foetus might be able to experience something like pain during later abortions, it seems reasonable that the clinical team and the pregnant woman are encouraged to consider foetal analgesia [pain relief].”

But Clare Murphy, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), said: “The most comprehensive review of this issue to date concluded a foetus cannot experience pain before 24 weeks. There is nothing in this paper which would lead to a change in practice.’

Dr Anthony McCarthy, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: “A society that claims to take seriously animal pain should not shrink from confronting pain inflicted on young human beings in the name of “choice”.

“Making death painless for the one killed does not, however, mean that taking life is thereby justified.”

Meanwhile, cross-bench peer Lord Alton, who is part of a parliamentary inquiry into foetal pain, said: “This new evidence adds further pressure on Parliament to urgently review our current abortion time limit. We last had a proper debate on time limits in 2008.”

 The two authors 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

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The two authors say there is now “good evidence” that the brain and nervous system are sufficiently wired up by 18 weeks for the foetus to feel painCredit: Getty Images – Getty
 The studies indicate unborn babies should be offered pain relief

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The studies indicate unborn babies should be offered pain reliefCredit: Getty Images – Getty





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