Yesterday the Senate voted on a bill which would have banned abortions after 20 weeks, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill which should not have involved politics, but science, ethics, and humanity. The vote was clearly political, with 42 Democrats effectively blocking the bill by voting against it, possibly because they consider the Republicans politically motivated any time they attempt to regulate abortion.
“We in this chamber are never going to agree completely on the abortion question. But we should at least be able to agree that if an unborn child has reached the point where he or she can feel pain, that child’s life deserves protection,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Nope-they couldn’t agree.
First, let’s discuss the science regarding when a fetus can feel pain. Sensory receptors in the skin are found as early as 7 weeks and are present throughout the body by 14-16 weeks. Studies have shown a reflex withdrawal (known as pain reflex) from a needle stick as early as 8 weeks and a stress hormone response (which is also interpreted as a pain response in anesthesia research) to needles in the hepatic vein, but not the nerve-free umbilical vein at 18 weeks. There you have it. Even fetuses younger than 20 weeks appear to feel pain and shouldn’t be torn limb from limb if we care about what they feel!
But scientists can disagree, right? I did a lot of research and found what you already know, which is that there will never be a definitive study that shows when a fetus can first feel pain. That’s where ethics and humanity come in to play. Should we be arguing when is the earliest a fetus can feel pain, or when is the latest?
In a frequently cited article, “Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence,” a 2005 review in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the authors concede that pain receptors are present throughout the unborn child’s entire body by no later than 16 weeks after fertilization and nerves link these receptors to the brain’s thalamus and subcortical plate by no later than 20 weeks post fertilization. They also concede that the application of painful stimuli is associated with significant increases in stress hormones known as the stress response. Notwithstanding these facts, the authors deny unborn pain at that stage on the assumption that a functioning cerebral cortex is needed. This despite substantial medical evidence that the thalamus alone is sufficient. More research reveals that the lead author of the paper was previously employed as a lawyer by NARAL and another author, Dr. Eleanor A. Drey, performed abortions and was medical director of an abortion clinic.
Ethically, a physician should not inflict pain except to help a patient, and even then anesthesia should be considered. Those who believe in the death penalty at least agree to attempt to make lethal injections as pain- free as possible for criminals. What disturbs me the most is the attempt to argue for the latest stage possible that a fetus could be considered to experience pain for the purpose of justifying late term abortions. Not ethical. Not humane.
The fetal tissue donation debate is extremely relevant to the fetal pain issue. Late term abortions were often preceded by an injection of digoxin to stop the fetal heart, which kills the fetus prior to dismemberment or prior to intact delivery and prevents the possibility of a live birth. But digoxin can cause valuable organs and tissue to be damaged, so in the CMP Planned Parenthood undercover investigation the PP medical director assures the ‘buyer’ that they don’t/won’t use ‘dig.’ So, is it ethical, or humane, to allow the dismemberment or dissection of a fetus that might be (likely is at 20 weeks) capable of feeling pain? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
One hundred ‘no’s,’ the number of senators who should have voted to stop the barbaric killing of fetuses (or babies) who might feel pain.
http://www.doctorsonfetalpain.com/answering-the-pain-deniers/#.VgLs1XhN38t
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