[Faline]

Babies begin to recognise pain before they are born, a study has shown.
They learn to tell the difference between pain and touch as early as the 35th week of pregnancy, researchers have discovered.
Scientists measured the brain waves of 25 normal-term and 21 premature babies to look for differences in activity.
As the electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings were made the infants had samples of blood taken by lancing their heels, a routine standard procedure.
Among premature babies, the heel lances produced general bursts of electrical activity in the brain. But after 35 to 37 weeks the babies' response switched to localised activity in specific brain areas.
This showed they were perceiving pain stimulation as an experience separate from touch, said the scientists.
Dr Lorenzo Fabrizi, from University College London, who led the research published in the journal Current Biology, said: 'We are asking a fundamental question about human development in this study - when do babies start to distinguish between sensations?
'In very young brains all stimulations are followed by 'bursts' of activity, but at a critical time in development babies start to respond with activity specific to the type of stimulation.
'Of course, babies cannot tell us how they feel, so it is impossible to know what babies actually experience. We cannot say that before this change in brain activity they don't feel pain.'

Previous studies have shown a similar shift from neuronal bursts to focused activity in the brain's visual centre at around the same time.
The research suggests that important nerve connections are formed in the brain during the period just prior to birth.
Co-author Dr Rebeccah Slater, also from University College London, said: 'Premature babies who are younger than 35 weeks have similar brain responses when they experience touch or pain.
'After this time there is a gradual change, rather than a sudden shift, when the brain starts to process the two types of stimuli in a distinct manner.'
The findings may have implications for the treatment, care and development of premature newborns, according to Dr Fabrizi.
He pointed out that premature babies often grow up to be either more or less sensitive to pain than normal.

[Lee]

[kaydeechio]

anyone who thinks otherwise has issues

[niknik]

I've heard a couple female members say its their body, and they can do what they want to it. Thats just horrible in my opinion.

[prax22a]

I think they can feel pain much earlier than 35 weeks

[kellyhound]

Previous scientific studiesThe question of fetal pain is difficult to determine, since a fetus cannot communicate what it is feeling.

Most scientists believe that pain is experienced in the cortical areas of the brain, which do not develop until the second trimester. Painful experiences result in autonomic (they occur automatically during pain) physiologic changes that can be measured.

For example, when we fell pain, our bodies produce endorphins and cortisol to help deal with the pain. One study was conducted on fetuses during blood draws.

This study showed elevated fetal plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin response to intrauterine needling early in the second trimester.

Measurement of cortical brain responses:
A recent study examined the question of fetal pain through the direct measurement of cortical brain responses in premature infants.

Using real-time near-infrared spectroscopy, blood flow in the contralateral somatosensory cortex of the brain was measured during routine blood draws.

The results showed that cortical blood flow was significantly elevated in infants as young as 25 weeks gestational age during needle puncture to draw blood.

It was also noted that cortical brain response was higher in awake infants than those who were asleep. These results showed that the fetal brain can detect pain at least at 25 weeks of age.

Since no premature infants were younger than 25 weeks, it did not determine the earliest age at which the fetus would feel pain.

Another Study:
A more recent study examined cells from the cerebral cortices of 20- to 21-week-old fetuses, finding functional glutamate or GABA ionotropic receptors are expressed on human subplate (SP) neurons.

Those cells exhibited bursts of electrical activity interspersed with periods of quiet, similar to that seen in adult cortical brain cells.

Although the article seemed intent on answering the question of how brains go wrong during development, the results might have a much larger impact on the abortion question.

Conclusion At this point, it is uncertain whether a fetus experiences pain during the first trimester of development, when most abortions occur.

However, recent studies have shown that the fetus most certainly does feel pain by the end the second trimester, when late-term and partial birth abortions are performed.

Since general anesthesia is not used in most of these procedures, the fetus most likely feels pain during the procedure as limbs may be pulled off and scissors are used to puncture the base of its skull.

[vnathan]

So I can falcon punch them after 35 weeks ya?

[scubahood]

for people who think this is an argument against abortion..
a pregnancy is only 38 weeks

[spec_t8r1981]

[Weatherly]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I've heard a couple female members say its their body, and they can do what they want to it. Thats just horrible in my opinion.

This has nothing to do with abortion. That would be later term and it is illegal. Abortion before the 24th week of pregnancy is legal.