Medical Expert Debunks JAMA Article Claiming Fetuses Feel No Pain
by Jim Brown
December 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A doctor and pain specialist is debunking an article being used by pro-abortion members of Congress to oppose legislation that would that a mother considering an abortion be informed of the pain the procedure would cause her child. Last week, a discredited 2005 article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, was cited by House Democrats who voted against the passage of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act. The JAMA article claimed that, since an unborn baby's brain is not fully developed until 29 weeks, the child will not feel pain during an abortion.
But Dr. Sanjay Gupta, director of the Atlantic Pain and Wellness Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says evidence from neonatal studies shows brain circuits start developing before 29 weeks of age. "It is possible that they are not complete before 29 weeks of age," he explains, "but an incomplete circuit may cause more pain than a complete circuit."
Based on the evidence, Gupta says, "I think it is a wrong presumption that the fetus does not feel pain." And since it is possible that the pain inflicted on an unborn baby during an abortion could actually be worse before the child's brain circuits have completely developed, he contends, "If we have to make an error, we should make an error on the more safe side."
And to err on the safe side, the doctor insists, "would be to try to control the pain -- to presume that they feel pain rather than presuming they don't feel pain -- and try to take precautions. It's as simple as that." There is no reason simply to presume that fetuses don't feel pain before 29 weeks of gestation and therefore "to let them suffer," he says.
Gupta points out that the JAMA article in question was not based on research but was simply an opinion from pro-abortion activists, including one involved with an abortion clinic. His own opinion about the pain early-stage fetuses experience during abortion diverges sharply from that in the JAMA piece.
The pain and wellness expert's opinion differs not only because of the neonatal evidence he has reviewed, he suggests, but because "it is easy to presume that [these fetuses] feel pain and then take precautions." Since "it is not hard to take those precautions," Gupta says, it makes sense to err on the safer, more humane side of the debate.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
