Prenatal perception: Difference between revisions

The hypothesis that human fetuses are capable of perceiving [[pain]] in the first trimester has little support, although fetuses at 8 weeks respond to touch.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marx|first1=Viola|last2=Nagy|first2=Emese|date=2015-06-08|title=Fetal Behavioural Responses to Maternal Voice and Touch|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=10|issue=6|pages=e0129118|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0129118|issn=1932-6203|pmc=4460088|pmid=26053388|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1029118M}}</ref> Some media describe a scientific "consensus", based on a 2005 study, that a fetus is not capable of feeling pain until the third trimester, specifically "around 29 to 30 weeks' gestational age, based on the limited data available." <ref>http://www.livescience.com/54774-fetal-pain-anesthesia.html 2016{{full citation needed|date=November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Lee"/><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1136/bmj.332.7546.909 |pmid=16613970 |pmc=1440624 |title=Can fetuses feel pain? |journal=BMJ |volume=332 |issue=7546 |pages=909–12 |year=2006 |last1=Derbyshire |first1=S. W G }}</ref> The 2010 review discussed below, however, suggested pain perception cannot begin before 24 weeks, and after revisiting the evidence in 2020, a co-author of that review posited "an immediate and unreflective pain experience...from as early as 12 weeks."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Derbyshire|first1=Stuart WG|last2=Bockmann|first2=John C.|date=2020-01-01|title=Reconsidering fetal pain|url=https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/1/3|journal=Journal of Medical Ethics|language=en|volume=46|issue=1|pages=3–6|doi=10.1136/medethics-2019-105701|issn=0306-6800|pmid=31937669|doi-access=free}}</ref>