Fetal pain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fetal pain is a subject of intense political and academic debate as part of the controversy over abortion. Determining the stage of pregnancy at which a fetus is able to feel pain could have a significant effect on abortion laws and practices.
Most scientists now believe that a fetus is able to feel physical pain sometime during the pregnancy. The question of exactly when this ability develops is disputed. Some academics argue that it appears as early as seven weeks after conception. Others claim that pain cannot be felt until the third trimester of pregnancy.
Multiple nerve systems are involved in the sensation of pain. When the brain and nervous system are fully developed, the sensation is triggered by nociceptors reacting to some stimulus. The resulting signal travels via the peripheral nervous system to nociceptors associated with the spinal column. It then travels up the spinal column to the thalamus, and onward to the cerebral cortex, where it is finally interpreted as a painful sensation.
The different systems involved in pain develop at different stages of gestation. Nociceptors are present as early as seven weeks post-conception. The spinal column and the thalamus are functional at about thirteen weeks. However, the final necessary connections within the cerebral cortex are not developed until about the twenty-sixth week. Whether pain is possible before all the systems are developed and all the connections are made is one of the main questions of the fetal pain controversy.
Researchers who believe that a fetus can feel pain early, as soon as some of the necessary nerves are available, tend to support criminalization of abortion. There is some concern that strong views on both sides of the abortion debate may be influencing the interpretation of research findings.
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[edit] Medical opinions
In 1997, Dr. Robert White, director of the Division of Neurosurgery and Brain Research Laboratory at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences [2], gave testimony before the House Constitution Subcommittee of the Congress of the United States. He stated that, at 20 weeks' gestation, the fetus "is fully capable of experiencing pain...Without question, all of this is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure."[1]
His assertions were supported by Dr. Paul Ranalli, a neurologist at the University of Toronto, who has cited several observations to support the belief that a fetus can experience pain. These include observing a fetus "withdraw from painful stimulation", and the fact that stress hormones detected in adults observing pain has also been found in the blood samples of aborted fetuses. Dr. Paul Ranalli is a member on the Advisory Board of the deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research, a pro-life organization (See end of this PDF newsletter).
In 2001, a working group appointed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the United Kingdom contradicted these findings, stating that "little sensory input" reaches the brain of the developing fetus before 26 weeks. "Therefore reactions to noxious stimuli cannot be interpreted as feeling or perceiving pain."[1]
In 2005, a meta-analysis of existing experiments undertaken by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the lack of functioning neurological pathways to a fetus' cererbral cortex before 26 weeks meant that it could not experience pain before then. The meta-study was criticised by pro-life groups who were suspicious of the prior involvement of several authors of the report. One directs an abortion clinic at San Francisco Hospital, while the lead author undertook legal work with NARAL Pro-Choice America for six months.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ a b Can a fetus feel pain?. Retrieved on December 14, 2005.
[edit] References
Anand, K.J.S. & P.R. Hickey. "Pain and Its Effects In the Human Neonate and Fetus." New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 317, #21 (19.November.1987): pp. 1321-1329 HTML version
[edit] External links
- Pro-life site presenting case for fetal pain from second month of pregnancy: HTML version.
- A review of clinical evidence concerning fetal pain, JAMA. 2005;294:947-954. HTML version
- 109th Congress, U.S.A. "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005." 1st Session, S.51. (January, 2005). PDF version, HTML version
- National Right to Life Committee's webpage of testimonies regarding fetal pain. HTML version
