Fetal Pain and Abortion
Scientific research generally indicates that the fetus is incapable of feeling pain until at least the 24th week. Many pro-life activists strongly believe in the ability of a fetus to perceive pain, and have introduced legislation in line with this belief. However, fetal pain is not a major legal issue in the debate about abortion, and has not been a deciding factor in any US Supreme Court decision, including the 1973 Roe v. Wade.
Such legislation, if passed would likely affect a very small percentage of abortions, as most are performed before week 20.
Read more about this topic: Neonatal Perception
Famous quotes containing the words pain and/or abortion:
“I look on it as no trifling effort of female strength to withstand the artful and ardent solicitations of a man that is thoroughly master of our hearts. Should we in the conflict come off victorious, it hardly pays us for the pain we suffer from the experiment ... and I still persist in it that such a behaviour in any man I love would rob me of that most pleasing thought, namely, the obligation I have to him for not making such a trial.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“It is always the moralists who do the most harm. Abortion is the logical outcome of civilization, only the jungle gives birth and moulders away as nature decrees. Man plans.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)