Reconsidering fetal pain
| Autor: | Stuart W. G. Derbyshire, John C. Bockmann |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Health (social science) Consciousness media_common.quotation_subject Developmental cognitive neuroscience Pain Gestational Age Abortion Morals Fetal Development 03 medical and health sciences Fetus 0302 clinical medicine Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Pregnancy Cortex (anatomy) Subplate Humans Medicine Ethics Medical media_common 030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine business.industry Health Policy Neurosciences Brain Abortion Induced medicine.disease Dissent and Disputes Issues ethics and legal aspects medicine.anatomical_structure Nociception embryonic structures Female Pregnancy Trimesters Prenatal perception business Neuroscience 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Medical Ethics. 46:3-6 |
| ISSN: | 1473-4257 0306-6800 |
| Popis: | Fetal pain has long been a contentious issue, in large part because fetal pain is often cited as a reason to restrict access to termination of pregnancy or abortion. We have divergent views regarding the morality of abortion, but have come together to address the evidence for fetal pain. Most reports on the possibility of fetal pain have focused on developmental neuroscience. Reports often suggest that the cortex and intact thalamocortical tracts are necessary for pain experience. Given that the cortex only becomes functional and the tracts only develop after 24 weeks, many reports rule out fetal pain until the final trimester. Here, more recent evidence calling into question the necessity of the cortex for pain and demonstrating functional thalamic connectivity into the subplate is used to argue that the neuroscience cannot definitively rule out fetal pain before 24 weeks. We consider the possibility that the mere experience of pain, without the capacity for self reflection, is morally significant. We believe that fetal pain does not have to be equivalent to a mature adult human experience to matter morally, and so fetal pain might be considered as part of a humane approach to abortion. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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