A human foetus cannot feel pain before it reaches 24 weeks’ gestation, according to a report published last week by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. At present the law allows abortions to take place up to 24 weeks after conception in most circumstances. The study showed the connections in the brain of a 24-week-old foetus are not sufficiently formed to allow pain sensations to travel from the periphery to the cortex, where they are “felt”. The report also found that even after 24 weeks, while in the womb, a foetus is in effect unconscious. According to the study, “it is difficult to say that the foetus experiences pain, because this, like all other experiences, develops postnatally along with memory and other learnt behaviours”.
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The last time abortion came before parliament was in 2008, when Nadine Dorries, left, the Conservative MP, put forward a proposal for a 20-week limit. A compromise at 22 weeks was almost struck, but in the end the status quo prevailed. That means that the law has remained practically unchanged since 1967, when it was introduced. Still, there are a number of stipulations even within the 24-week limit. Abortions can legally be performed only under certain conditions, for example if continuing with the pregnancy involves a greater risk to the physical or mental health of the woman, or her existing children, than having a termination, or if the child is likely to be seriously disabled.
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The reaction from government to the latest study was muted. A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The prime minister’s view is that he will be led by the science”, adding, “At the moment there are no plans to change the policy.” However, David Cameron has been an advocate of cutting the limit, voting in favour of a reduction in 2008. In an interview with The Catholic Herald earlier this year, he reiterated this opinion, saying an upper limit of 20 or 22 weeks “would be sensible”. The Conservative party as a whole seems to hold a similar view: a recent survey showed 85% were in favour of more restrictive legislation. Many equate reducing the abortion limit with the wider issue of assisted dying, which Cameron and others have strongly opposed.
Anti-abortion campaigners were quick to point out what they perceived as flaws in the argument that the lack of pain makes later abortions acceptable. Josephine Quintavalle of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “Performing abortion humanely does not justify the fact that you are terminating a human life.” Others pointed out that babies as young as 22 weeks have survived in recent years. The ProLife Alliance said the report was a “nakedly political” attempt to defend the status quo. The group’s colleagues in America have had recent victories in their campaign against abortion. Eleven states have passed new laws restricting abortion since the beginning of the year.