Posted on 01/23/2020 8:00:32 AM PST by Kaslin
In 2006 a landmark article, the British Medical Journal claimed that abortions without fetal anesthetic were okay before 26 weeks of gestation, because fetuses at five and a half months can't feel pain.
That was the 2006 opinion of Dr. Stuart W.G. Derbyshire, in discussions with American literary agent John Brockman, and that article came to be a basis for many abortions.
Maybe a lot of M.D.s secretly wondered if that was really true, because the history of medicine is full of bad guesses that turned out to be wrong. But we know what happens if skeptics pipe up in that world in the Age of P.C. They are like dissidents in Stalin's Moscow, who had a habit of disappearing. Skeptics these days are not banished to the Gulag, exactly, but there is some much nicer way to end their careers. Today, dissidents are silenced in a really nice way in Britain and America.
This week, the medical establishment over there flipped on fetal pain, as published in the British Medical Journal of Ethics. Sonograms and other new instruments show more about the fetal brain and pain perception. They finally admitted to being wrong in 2006. There was probably a lot of argument behind the scenes, but the BMJ of Ethics just published a retraction by Dr. Derbyshire, joined by John Brockman and others, saying that at 20 weeks babies might feel pain — maybe agonizing pain.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
More “settled science.”
It is always best to err on the side of life and the prevention of suffering. It is all that we humans can control for certain (with the assistance of the mother of course).
Talk about an inconvenient truth.
So it’s still ok to kill it, just don’t hurt it, right?
I guess the acknowledgment that a fetus feels pain is a step in the right direction at least.
As soon as the raging fangtooth feminazis flip their lids over this, the docs will flip again so as to avoid the wrath of the most obnoxious people on the planet.
Heck - if tomatoes can feel pain, surely babies can...
I have long thought that unborn babies perceive much more than the medical establishment would admit. In 1992 I was undergoing amniocentesis on our ~13 week baby. My husband and I were watching on the ultrasound. When the needle went in, our little guy sensed a perturbation in his little world and reached up with his hand to investigate the needle. The ultrasound tech froze in place because the damage to our baby’s little hand could be significant if he cut himself. After checking it out, our son took his hand back and continued his peaceful existence. It was an amazing experience. Exactly what thought or sensation he experienced we’ll never know, but he was clearly sensing changes in his environment and reacting to them.
Eggs, aspirin, cholesterol, ginger, garlic, ice water. Hmmm. Just make a list of all of the nouns.
add bacteria, statins, diabetes . . .
Those "doctors" who commit abortion know perfectly well that unborn babies feel pain long before the 20 week mark. Those articles are not reporting new understanding on the topic of fetal pain. Rather, their purpose is to put documentation into the medical literature that can be used by abortion advocates to "prove" that abortion before 26 weeks is not cruel.
Scientifically, cells always function as whatever cell type they become. The process of brain formation, where cells are becoming brain cells, forming brain tissue, and beginning brain function, takes place from 2 to 5 weeks after conception. The nerves form at the same time, and various feedback loops coordinate the formation of brain and nerve tissues. Since the brain is the central processing unit, and the nerves deliver information to the brain, the fact that the nervous system is formed means that the child is likely very capable of feeling pain. In fact, the notion that it cannot feel pain is nonsensical, as the necessary components are all functional and in place.
The bottom line is that the abortionists do not care how much pain they inflict. In fact, I would say that many of them are motivated by causing pain.
The temptation would be to think that these doctors are driven by the all mighty $ instead of morality. How many millions do these doctors make off of abortions and slicing up fetuses for “scientific experiments.”
There is probably a version of the of the oath, and a paragraph within, that states that the doctor shall not harm lesser, vulnerable human beings and make every effort to protect and heal those lesser, vulnerable human beings.
There is an inate desire to protect the fetus by the mother that should be nourished and supported. Sadly there is a huge business behind it and just the opposite happens.
Abortion businesses put a lot of pressure on young women to abort. They have a high pressure spiel (which they call "counseling") in which they bombard the prospective client with a narrative designed to get her to "choose" abortion. Then they schedule it for as soon as possible so that she has very little time to think about it. Abortion is big business. Women's health and children's lives aren't even considered.
Very unethical. And remember that it is ending a life.
Very unethical. And remember that it is ending a life.
The 2006 article was based on self report?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.