LONDON, Oct 11 (LSN.ca) – A survey conducted by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reveals that 80 percent of neuroscientists said that unborn babies aborted after 11 weeks’ gestation should receive pain relief during the procedure. The paper reports today that although many agreed with a suggestion that the unborn probably cannot experience pain until 22 to 24 weeks, they wished to err on the side of caution. Professor Susan Greenfield of Oxford University said: “Consciousness grows as the brain grows. As soon as something has a nervous system, however primitive, we have to tread more cautiously.”
The paper noted that the number of respondents were limited. The Daily Telegraph approached 100 neuroscientists, of whom 21 replied. SPUC notes that the British All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group has concluded that all the structures necessary to appreciate pain are “present and functional before the 10th week of intrauterine life”.
(with files from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children)