Medical experts agree that fetal pain begins at 12 weeks gestation [1] and may even be felt as early as eight weeks [2]. But perhaps the best source for firsthand experience with fetal pain is an abortionist.
As early as 1976, those performing abortions realized that the procedure is painful for the dying fetus. Abortionist John Szenes describes a preborn baby fighting for his life during a saline injection [2], saying: “All of a sudden one noticed that at the time of the saline infusion there was a lot of activity in the uterus. That’s not fluid currents. That’s obviously the fetus being distressed by swallowing the concentrated salt solution and kicking violently and that’s, to all intents and purposes, the death trauma.”1
The saline solution used in this type of abortion causes intense pain when injected under the skin. This solution is injected into the fetus’ sac, burning her from the outside and poisoning her from the inside. During this slow death, which takes about two hours, she thrashes around inside the womb. In spite of the fact that her heart is not physically touched by the solution, her heart rate more than doubles as a response to it.
Today’s Abortions Are Just as Violent
Saline abortions fell out of use in the 1990s because of the risk to mothers and the frequency of babies being born alive. At the time of Roe v. Wade, saline abortion was the most commonly used form of abortion after 16 weeks. But although the methods have changed, they are no less violent.
Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino [3] confirms this as he describes 1st trimester dilation and curettage abortions [4] and 2nd trimester dilation and evacuation abortions [5]—two common abortion procedures [6] that tear babies limb from limb, finally crushing the skull so that it will fit through the cervix. According to Levatino: “You know you did it [the abortion] right if you crush down on the instrument and white material runs out of the cervix. That was the baby’s brains.”
Dr. Noreen Johnson describes babies being deprived of nutrients inside the womb by abortion pills [7] and being poisoned with a digoxin injection piercing the baby’s head or chest. This causes the baby’s death by cardiac arrest.
In Stenberg v. Carhart [8], the Supreme Court provides a gruesome description of a D&E abortion: “The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: it bleeds to death as it is torn apart limb by limb.”
The ugliness of abortion is not a foreign concept to anyone involved in it.
These inhumane death procedures would not be acceptable for any animal, yet they are used regularly to kill the most innocent and fragile human beings.
A fetus at 6 months
The pro-abortion movement denies that the fetus feels pain, but anyone who performs an abortion knows this is not true. The uncaring attitude of many abortionists is summed up in the words of Anne Marie Keary, the head of Britain’s National Abortion Campaign back in 1996: “Pain is a factor in life; could an element of pain be a justification for no more abortions? I don’t think so.”2
Even Judge Anthony Kennedy, though he voted for a ban of partial-birth abortions, argued against the ban [9] of very similar D&E abortions, saying that such a ban would “construct a substantial obstacle to the abortion right.”
To the pro-abortion movement, the right to abortion trumps every argument, even that of fetal pain.
When Does a Fetus Feel Pain?
An article from the Charlotte Lozier Institute reviews a 2019 study entitled “Reconsidering Fetal Pain” published in the Journal of Medical Ethics [10]. According to the organization:
A new study “Reconsidering Fetal Pain” confirms that babies in the womb can feel pain as early as 12 weeks old. Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Stuart W.G. Derbyshire and John C. Bockmann state: “Overall, the evidence, and a balanced reading of the evidence, points towards an immediate and unreflective pain experience mediated by the developing function of the nervous system as early as 12 weeks.”
Dr. David Prentice, research director and vice president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, responded to the study, saying:
Unborn babies feel pain. The science has clearly shown for years that unborn children can perceive pain in the womb, but this is a significant admission by doctors on both sides of the abortion debate, recognizing that even early in human development, the unborn can feel pain. And as the authors note, “the mere experience of pain … is morally significant.” Science again points to the humanity of the unborn.
3D ultrasound of a baby at about 21 weeks
Kanwaljeet Anand, professor of pediatrics, anesthesiology, and neurobiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, wrote an expert report on the subject of fetal pain in 2004 [11] to assist the Supreme Court in its assessment of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Dr. Anand’s report summarizes fetal pain receptor development [12]:
- 4 – 6 weeks: The fetus’ cerebral cortex is formed, and she develops reflexes.
- 6 – 8 weeks: Brain waves can be recorded, and the nervous system starts to develop. The fetus’ lips become sensitive to the touch around seven weeks. By eight weeks, she is moving around the uterus to make herself more comfortable. She begins to react to harmful stimuli.
- 10 weeks: Her whole body is sensitive to the touch. She can now swallow, squint, frown, pucker her brow, and make a fist if her palm is touched. The most common forms of abortion at this age are suction and dilation and curettage. Imagine what an uncomfortable, if not painful, death this is on her sensitive little body.
- 11 weeks: The fetus will start to swallow more amniotic fluid if it is artificially sweetened and less if it is bitter. Saline injection is used after 16 weeks; yet at 11 weeks the fetus can already respond to taste.
- 12 weeks: The fetus’ neurotransmitters can send pain signals to the brain. Her cerebral cortex is only about 30 to 40 percent developed, but her response to pain is at least proportional to that amount, as confirmed by A. William Liley, the “Father of Modern Fetology” and Mortimer Rosen, an American researcher.
- 13 – 17 weeks: The fetus’ “general sense organs” begin to differentiate into “free nerve terminations” responding to pain, temperature and chemicals, “lamellated corpuscles” responding to pointed pressure, “tactile corpuscles,” “neuromuscular spindles,” and “neurotendinous end organs” responding to light and pointed pressure. Her vocal cords and auditory sense are now present, and she may cry if air bubbles get in the uterus.
- After 14 weeks: The fetus will cry, wiggle her body, or throw out her arms if her mother moves too suddenly or if she hears a loud noise. She must be sedated during surgery, just like any other patient. If she is irritated, her heartbeat will increase and she will move around, showing this sensation to be unpleasant.
At this point in her development, the fetus weighs only about two ounces and is about five inches long. She is small enough to fit in the palm of her mother’s hand, yet she can react to outside stimuli just like a grown person can. And even with a developed response system, she can legally be killed by chemical burns, dismemberment, suffocation, starvation, and worse while her mother is convinced by her killers that there is no fetal pain.
If this kind of treatment is illegal for children, adults, and animals, it should be illegal for the preborn as well.
Many pro-abortion activists claim that fetal pain earlier in pregnancy is not “evidence based” by blurring facts about fetal development. They point out that the cortex and thalamus [13], the latter of which is responsible for relaying sensory information to the cortex, do not develop fully until after 24 weeks. Because of this, they claim, unborn children cannot feel pain before 24 weeks. Even some big names in science, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) claim that the “science conclusively establishes” [14] that unborn babies do not feel pain before 24 weeks.
But science has shown that the neural pathways necessary for perception of pain through the cortical subplate [15] are developed as early as 12 weeks and via the thalamus as early as 7 or 8 weeks. While adults experience pain through the thalamus and cortex, this does not mean that unborn children cannot experience pain through other means, although they are less developed.
A review of the science shows that unborn babies [16] have the basic organization of the nervous system by 6 weeks, pain receptors begin forming at 7 weeks, and nerve synapses for spinal reflex are present by 10 weeks.
Science has shown that the cortex is not necessary for something or someone to feel pain [16]. Indeed, animals lack higher cortical structures but clearly still experience pain. Even the human cortex does not fully form around 25 years of age, and yet children, teens, and young adults experience pain.
Unborn children also respond to painful stimuli through avoidance as early as 8 weeks, and their stress levels rise. There is even evidence that being exposed to pain in utero may have neurodevelopmental effects [17] later in life. The unborn baby’s response to painful stimuli is often shot down by pro-abortionists, who claim this is simply a “hormonal response” [13] – a broad term that could encompass all reactions in adults and children alike. Just because something is a “hormonal response,” does not mean that it is not painful.
Hormones are responsible for the sensation of pain [18]. And when one experiences pain, the body releases a variety of hormones, including endorphins [19] and hormones from the thyroid and adrenals [20].
Thus, to dismiss the concern that an unborn child is experiencing pain by saying their reaction to painful stimuli is simply a “hormonal response” (when it is a “hormonal response” in all of us) is misleading, dishonest, and dangerous.
Given the possibility of an unborn child feeling pain, it is highly unethical and morally problematic for us to assume they cannot feel pain – or cannot feel it to a large degree – the justify whatever we wish.
It was not long ago – just in the 1980’s – that doctors believed that infants could not perceive pain [21], and so they did surgeries on infants without anesthesia. However, as science advanced, this understanding changed. The standard of care today requires that unborn babies at least as young as 15 weeks receive anesthesia and direct fetal analgesia [16] during fetal surgeries, citing the fact that the baby is “extremely sensitive to painful stimuli.”
Given the ethical implications and the evidence that unborn children may feel pain earlier than 15 weeks, children at every age should receive as much pain management as they can at their developmental stage. But even with immense pain, abortion is never merciful.
What About Abortion for Suffering Children?
There are, tragically, medical conditions that can make unborn children suffer before birth. Receiving such a diagnosis is traumatic and heartbreaking for the parents. Suddenly, they have to reimagine their child’s life and let go of the expectations they had. They may even wonder whether such a life is worth the pain.
Some observe the unborn child’s pain and assert that abortion, in this case, is merciful and compassionate. It is understandable and commendable that people wish to relieve an unborn child of their pain. But killing someone because of their suffering is euthanasia, which is never acceptable. Euthanasia is not merciful. Instead, it violates human dignity [22] and the right to life. We should not kill a suffering, unborn child, just as we should not kill an adult who is suffering.
However, if the unborn child is able to receive pain relief, helping him manage pain is a commendable and merciful act [23].
What if the child has a condition that will not allow him to live long [24] after birth, perhaps even just for a few hours? The principle is the same: just as we would not kill a toddler who has a fatal illness, so we should not dismember an unborn child. Instead, showing the child that he or she is dearly loved during the short time he or she is alive is the most loving and compassionate response.
In all cases, but especially in difficult pregnancies, parents should receive support and care during the pregnancy and after birth. Thankfully, pregnancy resource centers often offer free resources like car seats, diapers, and clothes, and some offer parenting, birth, and breastfeeding classes. Some even have a free counselor available. You can find your nearest center with the resources you need here [25].
Final Thoughts
Unborn children appear to be able to experience pain sooner than we had previously thought. In light of this evidence, it is ethically problematic to assume an unborn child cannot feel pain and thus justify whatever procedure we desire. Even if an unborn child were unable to experience pain, abortion is never acceptable as it kills a human being. But aborting a child who can feel pain makes the abortion that much more inhumane and reprehensible.
Those children who have incurable conditions, including those that cause the child pain, should be shown mercy through pain management and love from their parents.
This article was originally published in October 2021 by HLI Staff and was most recently updated in June 2024 by Marisa Cantu.
+ Endnotes
[1] Magda Denes, “Performing Abortions,” October 1976, pages 33 to 37.
[2] Sue Brattle, “Can a Fetus Feel Pain?” London Daily Express, August 6, 1996, pages 25 and 26.