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Many experts agree. In fact, some doctors place the probable threshold several weeks earlier, and numerous scientists around the world believe that embryos can feel pain at least by the eighth week of pregnancy. "This is more evidence that human life exists at the moment of conception. We have known it all along, and I suspect that everybody else knows it subconsciously, but will not admit it," observes Mr. Kevin Male of the pro-life organization Life. Those who disagree, however, claim that fetal responses indicative of pain in more mature individuals (flinching, movement, even measurable increases in fetal stress hormones) represent only reflex reactions. Chairperson of the Induced Abortion Guideline Group of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists', Dr. Gillian Penney asserts that fetuses younger than 26 weeks cannot feel pain because the connections in the brain between the cortex and the thalamus are not yet fully developed. Further, some scientists link suffering with self-awareness and contend that fetuses are not self-aware, despite reports that aborted babies as young as 21 weeks have been known to cry. But there is insufficient evidence to prove either view, argues Professor Peter Hepper of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In principle, however, his position is similar to Professor Glover's. In the absence of certainty, he would rather "be safe than sorry," he says. Professor Glover has sparked controversy by recommending that all abortions from the seventeenth week onward be performed under anesthesia. Although she continues to support abortion, she asserts that "one should not muddle the two. One should think about how one is doing [the abortion] in the most pain-free way." While science may not yet be able to determine when a pre-term child is sufficiently developed to experience pain, Professor Glover says, "Between 17 and 26 [weeks] it is increasingly possible that it starts to feel something and that abortions done in that period ought to use anaesthesia." Source: London Telegraph, August 28, 2000
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