Can a foetus feel the pain of an abortion? Some researchers think so

A woman undergoes a pregnancy ultrasound in Mexico. 

Photo EPA, Patricia Dominguez/CNE News

 By Kathryn Idema - Posted at CNE News:

Published January 29, 2025

It was the woman's ninth pregnancy. Serbian Dr. Stojan Adasevic grabbed his forceps, just as he did for the more than 48,000 abortions he performed.

It was the woman's ninth pregnancy. Serbian Dr. Stojan Adasevic grabbed his forceps, just as he did for the more than 48,000 abortions he performed. The National Right to Life report documented that the preborn baby neared its fourth month of development in Communist Serbia.

As he began dismembering what was inside, a hand and then a leg fell out and began to move. Later, he grabbed the heart, and it began beating slower and slower until he saw it lay motionless. That encounter left him with the pain that he harmed and killed a human being, something that had not occurred to him before.

Since the fall of Communism, a growing number of researchers have concluded that a foetus can sense pain not only around five months (approximately 28 weeks) but that it can be felt even earlier.

Setting Adasevic's experience aside, is it possible for a foetus to have the ability to sense pain, such as during an abortion procedure? Why is it the case that anaesthetics are now administered to a foetus before an in-utero operation begins?

The topic of foetal pain has been debated for decades and has remained a point of contention among gynaecologists and medical researchers. While some believe that the capability to feel pain begins at 28 weeks or even after birth, other medical professionals posit that sensing pain develops much earlier, at around twelve or even eight weeks.

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