One argument that pro abortion fighters use is the idea, not fact, but idea that the unborn human feels no pain until a certain gestational age. They do state it as a fact and tend to dismiss claims that disprove this “fact”. One key factor in educating yourself about whether or not fetal pain exists and at what point it begins is to do, what I am finding more and more pro abortion fighters don’t like to do, is research. Da, da, da! I know it is such an awful thing to ask of them, but they ask us to provide evidence, research, statistics and then evidence, research and statistics to back those up, I thought this once it wouldn’t be too much to ask.
I have taken the liberty of researching the development of the human brain from conception to birth through various articles written by pro life and pro abortion scientists and hours looking up definitions to medical terminology and looking at charts to better understand what it is they’re saying just so I could tell you, the reader, about it. Because fetal pain is a big deal when it comes to abortion. A suction abortion literally rips the limbs from a growing human being. The LEAST we could do is figure out if that kind of dismemberment hurts the child at all. But, that’s just my humanitarian nature I guess.
One argument that some scientists use to disprove that fetal pain exists until over halfway through the pregnancy is that certain elements of the brain that transmit the “feel” of pain are not present. At abortion facts you learn that the sensory nerve that transmit’s the message of pain, the thalamus that receives that transmission in the brain and the motor nerves used to control the area of the body that is in pain are present in an eight week old unborn human. One article I read, that tried to prove the lack of pain in a fetus, used the word “experience” just like that: in quotations. What is that suppose to mean? They can’t scream and therefore don’t “experience” pain? They don’t remember and therefore don’t “experience” pain? Pain is pain no matter how old or young. No matter your location in this world … pain is pain. Period. The example used is a needle poke with an infant. They cry and pull away. Same thing happens with an eight week old unborn human. They open their mouth and pull away. Where is the difference in that?
How do I know that an unborn human would pull away at any age? Watch the Silent Scream video for free online. It shows an unborn 11 week old being dismembered by a suction abortion. Dr. Jay Kelinson was the abortionist performing in that video and he made the statement in his video “The Answer”: “There was no manipulation of that tape, there was no misrepresentation. I was horrified at what I had seen … That was the last time I walked into an abortion clinic. “When Dr. Kelinson introduced the suction to the outside of the placenta, the tiny human moved away from the device and the heart rate went up. The unborn human was moving violently.
What other proof is needed? Apparently a lot more, thanks to Planned Parenthood and their “professional non-bias” committee of doctors brought about to refute the validity of the film. But, the Silent Scream is not the only evidence we have today of fetal pain occurring much earlier than the pro abortion society would lead you to believe. For example, at this Washington Education link, they talk about the brain and its growth rate. They state that 250,000 neurons can be added per sixty seconds in some periods of brain development. One of the keys to the pro abortion stance is that the human is not completely formed until birth. Anyone with eyes and common sense will tell you that’s just not true. We are always growing and always developing. Puberty anyone?
The ectoderm of the embryo is the source of development of the nervous system. The ectoderm is embryonic tissue that is responsible for the formation of our skin, hair and nervous system. Around the 3rd week after conception, the neural tube is formed which continues to develop into the brain and spinal chord. The crest of the tube becomes the nervous system. By the 49th day of development, three areas of the brain have formed. They are the forebrain, hindbrain and midbrain. So, if you’re getting an abortion at or after the 7th week of conception, those are all the parts of a human body you’re destroying. A quote from this paper sums it up the importance of continued development of the unborn and also equates, in a small way, the tie between the embryo, fetus and infant. “Incomplete closure of the anterior or posterior neuropore represents two such developmental errors during the first trimester which radically alter the future life of the embryo/fetus and infant.” The neuropore is an opening in the neural tube, which normally closes as development persists. Failure of closure to the anterior part of the neural tube results in a child without a complete brain. Failure of the closure to the posterior part of the neural tube results in spina bifida.
This knowledge should be made public, especially to those considering an abortion. It poses the question of when does a fetus, embryo begin feeling and experiencing pain? Do you really want to have an abortion where the limbs of the unborn are dismembered, which would include severing a spinal chord and developing nervous system? How sure are you about the fetal pain factor? If the fetus does feel pain, do you really want to be the one responsible for inflicting that kind of pain on another human being?
This article, from the UK, talks about the ability for a premature baby to not just react, but to feel pain. Studies were through brain scans that revealed that information about pain does reach the baby. That is scientific fact! There is no disputing that in anyway. So, partial birth abortions, where they suck the child’s brains through a vacuum machine, must put that baby through an agonizing and very painful death. It is barbarism at it’s finest. Another article, from the BBC, states that fetuses may feel pain as well, even as early as 17 weeks. The doctor in this article urges abortionists to provide anesthesia for babies being aborted, stating, “Given there is a possibility (that a fetus can feel pain) we should give the fetus the benefit of the doubt.” Although, it is just her guess that 17 weeks after conception is the earliest a fetus may feel pain, she states that there are ways to test for this now and find out the real truth. Sounds like we’re beginning to enter a stage of infant euthanasia, doesn’t it? That may make it hard to be pro choice, pro abortion and at the same time say euthanasia is wrong.
Now we have the question of anesthesia affecting the unborn child. A research paper from the National Right to Life, containing professionals in the field, goes into extreme detail about the effects of anesthesia and the unborn child. Promoters of Partial Birth Abortion stated that anesthesia kills the fetus before the abortion can even be performed. This caused outrage with professional anesthesiologists, stating that that kind of statement was extremely risky because it could scare mothers away from having needed surgery on themselves or their unborn child while pregnant. They also stated that general anesthetics not only do no harm to the fetus, they have no effect on keeping pain away from the fetus. They even stated that the mother would have to die from anesthesia in order to kill the fetus. Another example, from a professional OB/GYN doctor, is the testimony which counters one Dr. Haskell. It states that the effects on the fetus, in terms of pain relief given to the mother, are minute, if existent at all. He also states that the dose of anesthesia given to the mother during an abortion procedure is not enough to sedate her entirely from the pain.
With this question of anesthesia affecting the unborn child, one has to look at prenatal fetal surgery. In prenatal fetal surgery, the mother is the innocent bystander during operation on the fetus. We give so much attention and care to her: any pain she might feel; will her reproductive system be disturbed at all; would you like a pillow. But, with abortion, the assumption that the fetus feels no pain is mind numbing when you consider the abortionist is not making a simple incision in the umbilical cord and pulling the unborn out to die. No. Not in abortion. We give every thought and consideration to the mother, but almost no consideration to what the unborn child might be going through when their legs and arms get ripped off their body and their skull is crushed.
There is some hope though. The states of Arkansas, Georgia and Minnesota have passed some form of Fetal Pain legislation. Virginia has passed the law, but it is not complete. It requires the abortionist to provide the woman aborting with the knowledge that the unborn child may feel pain during the abortion. There are loopholes that need to be mended, however. Virginia law that requires the offer of anesthesia to the fetus being aborted is great. But, the mother still has the option to oppose the offer. 23 states are looking to enact this. There is also a federal example of these smaller state bills. You can find a copy of it at the National Right to Life website. It discusses the need to recognize the possibility of pain in a fetus, just as we recognize the possibility of pain in animals we take to the vet. It is a small, but meaningful first step in recognizing the fetus as more than just an unfeeling piece of tissue with no more than mere potential for growth into a human.
But, let me suggest this: taking away the potential for growth is taking away the potential for life. There is no potential for life until the moment of conception. I watched a documentary someone made on women who had abortion and felt no regret afterwards. One woman stated that she felt good about the fact that she had the power to give life and she had the power to take it away. It’s sad that we, as women, have come to a point of not just working to be equal with men, but controlling life as a means to feel empowered. My hope is that the readers of this article would take a good look and do extra research into the topic of fetal pain. If not for yourselves, do it for the women who may have to live with some form of guilt or depression over what the reality of abortion is and the severe possibility of pain it may cause their unborn child. I would like to end by quoting Dr. Arnold B Scheibel: “Nowhere are the beauty and power of life processes better expressed than in the development of the human nervous system.”
