Study: Fetal pain perception unlikely before third trimester

[friesianrider]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/08/23/fetal.pain.ap/index.html

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A review of medical evidence has found that fetuses likely don't feel pain until the final months of pregnancy, a powerful challenge to abortion opponents who hope that discussions about fetal pain will make women think more about ending pregnancies.

The review by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco comes as advocates are pushing for fetal pain laws aimed at curtailing abortion. Proposed federal legislation would require doctors to provide fetal pain information to women seeking abortions when fetuses are at least 20 weeks old, and to offer women fetal anesthesia at that stage of the pregnancy. A handful of states have enacted similar measures.

But the report, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, says that offering fetal pain relief during abortions in the fifth or sixth months of pregnancy is misguided and might result in unacceptable health risks to women.

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[kestrel91316]

1. No brain, no pain --- if the brain isn't developed enough for the pain

connections to form, NO PAIN EXISTS. But why confuse religious fascists with facts?