Foetal Pain and Humanitarianism

Abortions are often performed to prevent suffering, and can certainly cause suffering, both mental and physical, for the woman. But can an abortion also cause suffering for the foetus and if so, at what stage in pregnancy? And what moral significance might this have?

In a recent paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the authors conclude that in the light of recent neuroscientific data they “no longer view fetal pain (as a core, immediate sensation) in a gestational window of 12–24 weeks as impossible based on the neuroscience”. The lead author, Professor Stuart Derbyshire, a psychologist, was a member of the Working Party of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists which put out a widely-quoted report in 2010 stating that “The experience of pain needs cognitive, sensory and affective components, as well as the necessary anatomical and physiological neural connections.” The report concluded that the unborn can only experience pain after twenty-four weeks,…