Andrew Fergusson comments

At the end of June the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists came out with a working party report claiming that before 24 weeks of pregnancy, the fetus in the womb cannot 'feel' pain. What is the significance of 24 weeks? And what is the significance of that report?

Doctors count the length of a normal pregnancy from the first day of the woman's last period until she gives birth as being 40 weeks long. The 1967 Abortion Act was amended in 1990 so that the upper limit of duration of pregnancy for legal abortion in most circumstances is 24 weeks into that pregnancy. (The exceptions are 'risk to the life of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated', the necessity 'to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman', and 'substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as be seriously handicapped'.) In practice, more than 98% of the 200,000 abortions that take place each year in the UK are performed before 24 weeks.

In the run up to a parliamentary bill in 2008 which could have reopened the whole of abortion legislation but in the end merely voted on this 24 week upper limit (rejecting a reduction), a parliamentary committee reviewed scientific developments relating to the 1967 Act. One of the controversial questions glossed over then was whether the fetal brain was sufficiently wired by 24 weeks for the fetus to be able to feel pain. The Royal College was asked by Parliament to investigate - hence their report. An extract from its summary reads:

'In reviewing the neuroanatomical and physiological evidence in the fetus, it was apparent that connections from the periphery to the cortex are not intact before 24 weeks of gestation and, as most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception, it can be concluded that the fetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation..'

What do those big words mean? The College claims that only the highest, most developed part of the brain (the cortex) is capable of experiencing sensations we would call pain, and that the wiring of all the necessary nerve connections to the cortex is not yet complete. Peter Saunders responds in his blog:

'This sounds logical enough, but is it really that simple? Are these neural connections really necessary in order for pain to be felt at all? Not all experts agree. As the report acknowledges in its small print (but noticeably not in its loudly trumpeted conclusions) there is a significant body of expert opinion that does not concur with the idea that pain sensation requires higher cortical connections. These other experts, as actually acknowledged in the body of the report, express 'disquiet in denying a rawer, more primitive, form of pain or suffering that the fetus, neonate and many animals might experience'.

These other experts were never consulted by the working party. So, cherry picking only those opinions that suit the cause of continuing with 200,000 abortions a year, aborting almost one in four of all pregnancies? And if that claim raises eyebrows - yours, mine and the fetus's - what about the College's plan B:

'Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that the fetus never experiences a state of true wakefulness in utero and is kept, by the presence of its chemical environment, in a continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation. This state can suppress higher cortical activation in the presence of intrusive external stimuli.'

Those big words claim that the baby in the womb never wakes up fully, so even if there was pain they would only part feel it in their sleep. In their dreams! What mother who has felt her baby moving long before 24 weeks is going to buy all that? And now, with 4-D ultrasound pictures showing so much detail of babies in the womb long before 24 weeks, including babies responding by withdrawing from harmful stimuli, which member of the public is going to be completely convinced by the headlines of the RCOG report?

And in any case, if we are setting out intentionally to end a baby's life by abortion, how much moral difference does it ultimately make to them whether they feel it the way we feel pain or not? Who do the abortion industry think they're kidding?