Pain In Unborn Babies

The decision is to cut up, rip apart, poison, burn, or suck out an unborn child. A commonly asked question is regarding pain. Can an unborn child feel pain? Research says a fetus can feel pain by twenty to twenty-four weeks, if not sooner. Although the unborn babies can’t cry out, they can still feel and react to pain. Some evidence includes unborn babies’ reactions to stimuli over sonograms and ultrasounds. Surgeons have even reported babies inside the flinching, jerking, and even recoiling from the objects or injections. The neural pathways are present in a fetus, proving that pain can be felt early on. According to Dr. Paul Ranalli, a neurologist, “In fact, unborn babies probably feel pain more intensely that adults. This is a uniquely vulnerable
time since that pain system is fully established, yet the higher-level pain-modifying system has barely begun to develop” *cite*. Another doctor, David Birnbach, president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, states, “On occasion, we need to administer anesthesia directly to the fetus because even at these early ages the fetus moves away from the pain of stimulation” *cite*.