A university doctor alleges that late-term abortions are necessary and ethical because he claims unborn babies can’t feel pain in the womb until around the third trimester of a woman’s pregnancy.
“Research has shown a fetus does not yet have the capacity to experience pain until at least the third trimester, and unlikely until birth,” Dr. Daniel Grossman of the University of California San Francisco said in a tweet addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
.@SenateMajLdr, you noted that “fetal pain” is your main reason for banning abortion at 20 weeks, and I’d like to take the opportunity to share some evidence-based medical information on this with you, as well. https://t.co/PsoxO8nrsj
— Dr. Daniel Grossman (@DrDGrossman) January 26, 2018
“The nerve fibers that connect the pain receptors to the cerebral cortex, where they would be able to perceive the pain, those fibers aren’t even present until the third trimester of pregnancy – after 26 or 28 weeks,” he told NBC News. He maintains that if an unborn baby can feel pain at all while in the womb, it’s during the third trimester.
Pro-lifers and many scientists maintain that not only can unborn babies feel pain at 20 weeks, but that abortions conducted before 20-weeks gestation are safer for women as well. “Research shows that a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks (five months) is 35 times more likely to die from an abortion than she was in the first trimester,” President of Americans United For Life Catherine Glenn Foster said in a statement sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Scientific advancements have also allowed doctors and nurses to birth healthy children at 22 weeks, causing some health professionals to debate whether the medical community should change the threshold of viability.
However, Grossman argues differently.
“This has become such a highly politicized topic that the facts really get lost,” Grossman told NBC. “Scientific studies indicate it’s not biologically possible for a fetus to feel pain.” He added that it’s important policy makers and legislators use the best available scientific evidence when they craft policy, insinuating that there are not doing so with efforts to pass the 20-week abortion ban.
The Senate failed to pass legislation Monday evening that would prevent doctors from performing abortions on women who are 20 weeks pregnant or more. Fifty-one lawmakers voted for the measure and 46 voted against it, but the bill failed to pass the Senate requirement of 60 votes necessary for a debate on the bill. (RELATED: Senate Fails To Pass The 20-Week Abortion Ban)
Also known as Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the bill sought to make it illegal for a person to perform or attempt to perform an abortion after 20-weeks gestation of pregnancy. Transgressors would face fines and up to five years in prison. The legislation did include exemptions for rape victims, however, only if the woman received medical treatment or counseling at least 48 hours before the abortion.
Pro-lifers will likely seek to reintroduce the bill in coming years.
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