Do Foetuses Feel Pain? – recent news from the UK
Can a foetus feel pain at abortion?
by Dr Mark Houghton MB, BS, (London), MRCGP and Mr James Evans
It’s a question many are asking in the UK and USA and causes anxiety in women considering abortion. [1,2]
Back in the 1990s doctors still told women there is no need to anaesthetise their newborn baby for surgery because babies don’t feel pain. This idea has changed, but not in the case of abortion in the UK.
In recent years pain felt by the foetus was acknowledged, though still publicly denied for the past three decades.
The Department of Health's (UK) official statement, advised by Royal College of Obstetricians (RCOG) was still evident in 2010 that fetal pain ‘does not happen because a baby is in a permanently unconscious state in the womb.’ [3]
The medical establishment in the UK is beginning to take steps to address fetal pain, even during an abortion procedure.
Some examples are included below.
In 2019 ‘painkiller was given during spina bifida surgery on the unborn baby from 20 weeks gestation’. [4]
This is the first official recognition in the UK that an unborn baby, too young to live outside their mother, has feelings for pain. More evidence for their pain sensing ability is in our practical guide Chapter 8, Feelings of a Fetus. Footnote.
For later abortions, a survey was published in autumn 2019 on the use of fetal painkiller in France where it has been common practice for years. [5]
The guidelines of the French College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2008) state [translation]: “Fetal analgesia is justified due to the pain stimulated during needling of the heart [to kill the fetus], but also because the injection of [lethal] potassium chloride KCl or death itself can be painful.” [6]Last month saw an article 'Reconsidering Fetal Pain' 5 by Stuart WG Derbyshire stating that fetal painkiller should be considered from 12 weeks gestation and that the mother should discuss this with her gynaecologist and anaesthetist prior to the abortion.
Derbyshire is one of the UK's experts on fetal pain since the 1990’s. He initially argued against their feeling pain, but he has now changed his mind based on new evidence. [7]
This is some of the latest news and research regarding fetal pain so it did not make it into our updated edition of Pregnancy and Abortion – Practical Guide to Making Decisions. However, the new evidence explored above gives added credence to the advice we provide in the book that unborn fetuses can feel pain.
References:
1. Google analytics, 2019
2. Pregnancy and Abortion Practical Guide, Dr M Houghton, to be published 2010, Malcolm Down Publishing.
3. RCOG, Fetal Awareness; Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice, June 2010 https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/fetal-awareness---review-of-research-and-recommendations-for-practice/
4. Spina Bifida Surgery, parliament.uk, February 2019 accessed from: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-02-06/217544/
5. Letourneau, A et al. Feticide in second‐ and third‐trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal anomalies: Results of a national survey, Prenatal Diagnosis, October 2019 accessed from: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pd.5594
6. TRENTE-DEUXIÈMES JOURNÉES NATIONALES Paris, 2008 accessed from: http://www.cngof.asso.fr/d_livres/2008_GO_041_houfflin.pdf
7. Derbyshire, S and Bockman, J, Reconsidering Fetal Pain in Journal of Medical Ethics, January 2020 accessed from: https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/1/3