Prenatal perception
[7][additional citation(s) needed] A multidisciplinary systematic review from 2005 found limited evidence that thalamocortical pathways begin to function "around 29 to 30 weeks' gestational age", only after which a fetus is capable of feeling pain.
A co-author of that report reviewed the evidence in 2020, specifically the functionality of the thalamic projections into the cortical subplate, and posited "an immediate and unreflective pain experience...from as early as 12 weeks.
"[11] There is a consensus among developmental neurobiologists that the establishment of thalamocortical connections (at weeks 22–34, reliably at 29) is a critical event with regard to fetal perception of pain, as they allow peripheral sensory information to arrive at the cortex.
[8] Given the maternal risk involved and the lack of evidence of any potential benefit to the fetus, administering fetal anesthesia for abortion is not recommended.
[24] In 2013 during the 113th Congress, Representative Trent Franks introduced a bill named the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" (H.R.
[25] In 2004 during the 108th Congress, Senator Sam Brownback introduced a bill named the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act" for the stated purpose of "ensur[ing] that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child", which was read twice and referred to committee.
[28] Eight states – Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Alaska, South Dakota, and Texas – have passed laws which introduced information on fetal pain in their state-issued abortion-counseling literature, which one opponent of these laws, the Guttmacher Institute founded by Planned Parenthood, has termed "generally irrelevant" and not in line "with the current medical literature".
[29] Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said laws such as these "reduce ... the process of informed consent to the reading of a fixed script created and mandated by politicians not doctors.
