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As the mother of a 27-week preemie, I have one comment:
"Well DUH!"
Thanks for the ping and for posting the information.
There are several good articles available on this press release. I used the Medical News Today coverage in my blog, today. (http://www.lifeethics.org/www.lifeethics.org/index )
The functional study is very clear that the pain center in the cortex are, indeed, functional at 25 weeks. There is every reason to believe that the structures, which we know are present from 20 to 21 weeks, mature and function much earlier.
However, the "old wisdom" was that the neonate possibly did not meet the strict definition of pain, and the earliest agreed upon age was about 28 weeks gestation.
Now, we just have to watch and make sure that this knowledge is used for good, when they combine the data with all the pain the babies have to go through in the nursery (as well as when regulating abortion.)