Fetal pain

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Fetal pain is the medically proven fact that an unborn child experiences pain during an abortion, at least as early as 20 weeks in gestation.

As of 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court has never addressed the issue of fetal pain.

Dr. Tom Grissom, a Washington School of Medicine clinical instructor in pain medicine, testified in Nebraska that:[1]

specialized nerve endings involved in pain transmission are seen as early as seven weeks and are found throughout all organs by 20 weeks gestation… The midbrain, brainstem and cortex are all present in the fetus by 20 weeks gestation. This means that all the elements for the perception of pain are present by 20 weeks gestation.

Dr. Grissom later added:[1]

It is the general practice in the field of fetal surgery to treat the mother for pain as if we are treating the fetus. All the components are there for feeling pain, and we can quantify the physiological responses associated with pain at 20 weeks, such as the production of hormones .... And shouldn’t the burden of proof be on those arguing there is no fetal pain at this point rather than on those arguing there is?

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/a_bulletproof_abortion_ban/