unborn babys can feel pain

[john5746]

I think the woman who has the abortion is the one who has the real pain. If the baby feels pain it is very temporary, while the woman may suffer a lifetime for her decision. But, it is her choice.

[THoR]

I think the woman who has the abortion is the one who has the real pain. If the baby feels pain it is very temporary, while the woman may suffer a lifetime for her decision. But, it is her choice.

I can attest to that. I know someone who still breaks down in tears today for a bad choice made 40 years ago.

[Severian]

Babies are no different.

 

Can you prove that?

[bascule]

Can you prove that?

 

No, but I've already linked a study which corroborates my assertions

[Severian]

It is a bit vague though. It seems to be saying that babies don't feel pain because they have adenosine in their blood stream. But there is no explanation as to why that should make any difference or even an attempt to back that up.

 

I also imagine that a baby takes a wee while to flush the adenosine from its blood stream. Does that mean that babies don't feel pain when they are first born?

 

It all seems very dubious to me. After all, coma patients feel pain and they are not conscious.

[Glider]

How do you know coma patients feel pain?

[Severian]

If you do a scan you can see the brain activity. Of course, if you want to get pedantic, I can't tell if a concious person is feeling pain either. They could just be faking it.

[Sisyphus]

As was said earlier, the nervous system having a response to stimuli is not the same as the experience of suffering. The question is hardly pedantic.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4905892.stm

 

Another psychologist says fetuses don't experience pain.

[Glider]

If you do a scan you can see the brain activity. Of course, if you want to get pedantic, I can't tell if a concious person is feeling pain either. They could just be faking it.

But what does brain activity have to do with pain? As I said, there are no 'pain' centres in the brain, and activity in 'nociceptive' pathways is not pain. You can activate nociceptive pathways without experiencing pain. There is no objective physiological measure of pain. No scanning method (EEG, fMRI, PET, SPET etc.) can show pain because pain is a psychological state.