PHOTO SUPPLIED BY RESPECT LIFE OFFICE, MELBOURNE

A topic receiving more attention recently in debates on abortion is the question as to whether a foetus can suffer and feel pain. A book just published brings together evidence by experts, mainly Italian, on the subject.

Neonatal Pain: Suffering, Pain and the Risk of Brain Damage in the Fetus and Unborn (Springer) is edited by Giuseppe Buonocore and Carlo Bellieni, of the University of Siena. The large number of experts who contribute to the book agree in affirming that a foetus can feel pain before birth.

One of the contributions, a joint effort by nine experts, looks at the evidence obtained from ultrasound techniques. The introduction of three-dimensional and four-dimensional ultrasonography has enabled a far more detailed evaluation of the foetus, including how it reacts to specific stimuli. The uterus is a protected, but not an isolated, environment and touch is the first sense the foetus develops. By week 10 of pregnancy an unborn child can be observed bringing hands to its head, opening and closing its mouth, and swallowing.

As well, recent experiments show that newborns have functional memory. The authors note that newborns remember tastes and odours perceived in the uterus. Sounds, also, are heard by the unborn, including the mother’s voice. Newborns have even been shown to recognise music the mother listened to during pregnancy.

The authors of another joint article observe that acute or chronic pain, or even prolonged stress, can be dangerous for the foetus, especially if it happens during a critical period of brain development. Possible negative effects range from a lower pain threshold to an increase in age-related memory impairments.

The authors observe that some medical experts don’t believe the foetus can feel pain because it is not conscious and is normally asleep in the womb. They reply that considerable scientific evidence shows that foetuses are sensitive to a variety of sensations in the uterus: sound, changes in light, touch and pressure, and changes in balance. Moreover, even if a foetus does not recognise pain consciously as we do, it still remains an unpleasant experience for the unborn.

In a concluding chapter, Marina Enrichi urges readers to value prenatal life. A better knowledge about prenatal conditions and the development of the foetus will bring with it a perception of foetal life as something precious, resulting in greater respect for the developing embryo and the woman bearing it, she argues.

In the US on 10 February The New York Times ran a feature article reporting on the findings of other doctors on this topic. The article cites the experience of Kanwaljeet Anand, who as a medical resident in a British hospital saw the great harm caused to premature babies when they were operated on without anesthetic. At the time, 25 years ago, doctors thought the nervous systems of the babies were too underdeveloped to sense pain.Through trials, Anand showed this was not the case and that once the babies received anesthesia the mortality rate dropped from 25% to 10%. Pain relief for premature babies soon came to be standard.

Anand, now a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, believes foetuses can feel pain by the 20th week of pregnancy, possibly earlier.

The article also cites Nicholas Fisk, a foetal medicine specialist and director of the University of Queensland centre for clinical research. Fisk has carried out research showing that foetuses as young as 18 weeks react to an invasive procedure with a spike in stress hormones and a shunting of blood flow towards the brain. This is a reaction also present in infants and adults and is designed to protect a vital organ from threat.

The New York Times article acknowledges that the question of whether the foetus feels pain has implications for the abortion debate. In fact, medical evidence is showing they do feel pain, and as time goes by researchers are pushing back more and more their estimation of the age at which the foetus is affected by pain. Admitting that a foetus does feel pain, however, is difficult for abortion advocates, as it is just one more bit of evidence proving how wrong they are about denying the unborn a chance
to live.

“Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being,” states section 2274 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Recognising that a foetus can indeed feel pain is one step towards acknowledging that it is a person.

See www.melbourne.catholic.org.au for information and resources.