A study published in March 2017 found that preborn human beings have a much more advanced nervous system than previously believed. The study, “Tridimensional Visualization and Analysis of Early Human Development,” which was published in the journal Cell, was conducted to create a precise cellular and molecular cartography of the human embryo. What it discovered was that as early as the first trimester, fetuses already have adult-like nervous system patterns, even in their hands and feet — concluding that fetal pain is a real experience.
“We found that the adult-like pattern of skin innervation is established before the end of the first trimester, showing important intra- and inter-individual variations in nerve branches,” states the study. According to Live Action News’ Cassy Fiano’s previous article on the study, researchers “found evidence for ‘a differential vascularization of the male and female genital tracts concomitant with sex determination.'” The researchers, using advanced cellular visualization tools, were able to take microscopic images of proteins in nerve vascular tissues down to the tiniest single nerve branches.
While the study fails to report a complete conclusion as to what this means, the fact that the nervous system develops sooner than once thought backs up other evidence that proves fetuses are capable of feeling pain at as early as eight weeks gestation.
It has been well-documented that preborn humans feel pain during an abortion. As early as 8 weeks gestation, it has been shown that the fetus responds to touch. Abortion proponents have long argued that this is simply a reflex because the nervous system was not thought to be well developed at this age, however, this latest study proves this theory wrong.
The Silent Scream, which documents an 11-week-old fetus recoiling from abortion instruments also shows that preborn humans react to stimuli.
In The Abortion Providers video, surgeon Robert P. N. Shearin states that:
As early as eight to ten weeks after conception, and definitely by thirteen-and-a-half weeks, the unborn experiences organic pain […] First, the unborn child’s mouth, at eight weeks, then her hands at ten weeks, then her face, arms, and legs at eleven weeks become sensitive to touch. By thirteen-and-a-half weeks, she responds to pain at all levels of her nervous system in an integrated response which cannot be termed a mere reflex. She can now experience pain.
At 18 weeks gestation, it has been shown that the preborn child will exhibit stress responses to painful stimuli.
Additionally, Maureen Condic, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah, testified that fetuses feel pain at eight weeks gestation when the spinal circuitry for pain detection is established.
“The debate over fetal pain is not whether pain is experienced by a fetus at 20 weeks,” she explained. “There’s essentially universal agreement on this point in the scientific community. Rather the debate concerns how pain is experienced. Whether a fetus has the same pain experience as a newborn or adult.”
Abortion ends human lives, and it has been repeatedly proven that those lives are capable of feeling the pain of being dismembered or injected with a needle to stop their hearts, or suctioned from their mother’s wombs. Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains in the video below:
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act recently passed in the US House, and has moved on to the Senate. The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation except in cases in which the mother’s life is endangered by “a physical disorder, illness, or injury, excluding psychological or emotional conditions,” in which the pregnancy is the result of rape and the woman has received counseling for the rape or medical treatment for the rape at least 48 hours prior to the abortion, and when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest against a minor and “the rape or incest has been reported prior to the abortion to a law enforcement agency or a government agency legally authorized to act on reports of child abuse.”
The United States is currently only one of seven nations that permits abortion on demand after 20 weeks gestation.
However, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, even if it passes, will not be able to protect all preborn children from feeling the pain of abortion, as we now know that they experience it much earlier than 20 weeks.