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. 2006 Apr 15;332(7546):909-12.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.332.7546.909.

Can fetuses feel pain?

Stuart W G Derbyshire  1
Affiliations

Can fetuses feel pain?

Stuart W G Derbyshire. BMJ. .

Abstract

Legal or clinical mandates to prevent pain in fetuses are based on limited evidence and may put women seeking abortion at unnecessary risk. This paper outlines neurodevelopment in fetuses in the context of pain experience

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Can a fetus experience pain? Credit: JIM STEVENSON/SPL
Figure 2
Figure 2
Key developmental stages before and after birth. Colours illustrate gradual emergence of indicated feature. Solid colour indicates that feature is clearly apparent although not necessarily fully developed (frontal cortex synaptogenesis, for example, continues into adolescence). Colour becoming dim again indicates that feature is transient (hyperexcitability to noxious stimulation, for example, appears at about four months' gestation but is no longer a feature of behaviour after three months of age). See text and earlier reviewsw4-w6 for further details
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Fetuses can feel pain.
    Tighe M. Tighe M. BMJ. 2006 Apr 29;332(7548):1036. doi: 10.1136/bmj.332.7548.1036. BMJ. 2006. PMID: 16644849 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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