New Report Concludes Preborn Children Could Feel Pain at 8 Weeks

photo credit: Andrew Malone / Flickr

A peer-reviewed report published in December 2021 concludes that unborn children are likely capable of feeling pain as early as eight weeks gestation. The report goes as far as to suggest that denying fetal pain begins during the embryonic stage "is no longer tenable."

The new study is Dr. Bridget Thill's "Fetal Pain in the First Trimester" published in Linacre Quarterly. In his report, he considered research from medical journals published from 1936 through 2021.

Thill's examination of the research gave him five pieces of evidence that led him to the conclusion that unborn children feel pain within the first trimester:

• “The neural pathways for pain perception via the cortical subplate are present as early as 12 weeks gestation, and via the thalamus as early as 7-8 weeks gestation.”
• “The cortex is not necessary for pain to be experienced.”
• “Consciousness is mediated by subcortical structures, such as the thalamus and brainstem, which begin to develop during the first trimester.”
• “The neurochemicals in utero do not cause fetal unconsciousness.”
• “The use of fetal analgesia suppresses the hormonal, physiologic, and behavioral responses to pain, avoiding the potential for both short- and long-term sequelae.”

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