New Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis Pro-Life Group Says

New Study Denying Fetal Pain Lacks Scientific Basis Pro-Life Groups Say

LifeNews.Com    http://lifenews.com/int1580.html

Steven Ertelt

June 28, 2010

Pro-life groups contradict a recent report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) that claims that nerve connections to the brain are not fully developed until birth, and as a consequence, unborn babies in utero can feel no pain.

The report is deficient both because of authorial bias and unscientific conclusions. The authors were abortion advocates and one was an abortionist. Moreover scientific studies have shown that children born missing virtually all of their brain nonetheless experience pain. By 20 weeks pain receptors are present throughout the unborn child’s skin; these children display reaction to painful stimuli. Another researcher has shown that functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13.5 weeks of gestation.