So much not to like in one little story. First, the American Medical Association just published a report suggesting that "fetuses" don't feel pain until late in pregnancy. This report is not based on any new research, but a "review" of existing studies. While a whole stream of studies done by specialists has shown that babies feel pain quite early, a general panel of the AMA --just as Congress begins considering whether babies should be anesthetized prior to abortion, and whether women considering abortion should be given information on fetal pain-- decides the following.
While brain structures involved in feeling pain begin forming much earlier, research indicates they likely do not function until the pregnancy's final stages, said the report's senior author, UCSF obstetric anesthesiologist Dr. Mark Rosen. Based on the evidence, discussions of fetal pain for abortions performed before the end of the second trimester should not be mandatory, the researchers said.
Got that? The pain receptors are created early, but they magically don't work until after you've aborted. Unless you want your baby, in which case she'll be given anesthesia as a matter of course should surgery be required.
When doctors operate on fetuses to correct defects before birth, general anesthesia is given to the mother primarily to immobilize the fetus and to make the uterus relax, Rosen said. Anesthesia during fetal surgery increases the mother's risks for breathing problems and bleeding from a relaxed uterus, the researchers said.
Rosen said those risks are medically acceptable when the goal is to save the fetus but there's not enough evidence to show any benefit from fetus-directed anesthesia during an abortion.
This report is not politically motivated, mind you. Heavens, no. Why would you think that just because --as in the first remark above-- it makes specifically political conclusions? And how about this?
The authors include the administrator of a UCSF abortion clinic, but the researchers dispute the claim that the report is biased.
UPDATE: The lead author of this "study" used to work for NARAL.
Question: if you were about to undergo surgery, would you be satisfied with a doctor who said you "may not" feel pain? Does the journalist go to several independent experts to review the report and tell us whether it is medically sound? He does not. He makes the story he said/he said. It's the new journalism. There are no facts, there are only opinions and people arguing about them.
Finally, though less importantly, a specialist on fetal pain proves my observation that "literally" is the new "figuratively" when he says:
"They have literally stuck their hands into a hornet's nest," said Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a fetal pain researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who believes fetuses as young as 20 weeks old feel pain. "This is going to inflame a lot of scientists who are very, very concerned and are far more knowledgeable in this area than the authors appear to be. This is not the last word _ definitely not."
