Article: The fetus may feel pain from 20 weeks.(The Fetal Pain Controversy)

PAIN IS A SUBJECTIVE EXPERIence. The fetus cannot tell us what it is feeling, and there is no objective method for the direct measurement of pain. To address the question of pain in the fetus, one must use indirect evidence from a variety of sources, and then make an informed guess. This approach is similar to that which we use with animals. We cannot ask animals how they feel, but infer from a variety of indirect approaches including study of their behavior, anatomy and physiology.

CONSCIOUSNESS

To feel pain or suffer discomfort, one needs to be conscious, to be aware. We do not know when, if at all, consciousness starts in the fetus. The biological ...

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