The news media is in a feeding frenzy reporting on a "study" (actually, a re-interpretation of existing medical literature) published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors claim that there is no substantial reason to believe that unborn humans feel pain before the third trimester (after 29 weeks gestational age). Most of these stories have failed to report important information about the study "investigators" [more from NRTL].

The lead author, Susan J. Lee, is a medical student and former NARAL employee, and one of the physician authors, Eleanor Drey, is the director of an abortion clinic in San Francisco [more here and here]. Dr. Drey is also on the staff of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, a pro-abortion advocacy center at the University of California-San Francisco.

What’s more, these affiliations were not disclosed to JAMA.

JAMA editor-in-chief Catherine D. DeAngelis told the the Philadelphia Inquirer, "This is the first I've heard about it. We ask them to reveal any conflict of interest. I would have published" the disclosure if it had been made.

Yet DeAngelis stated it would not have influenced her decision to print the report.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee in Washington, said the research is tarnished with bias.

"If Congress wants an objective evaluation of whether calves and lambs are being slaughtered humanely, they will not rely too much on the report from the operators of slaughterhouses," he said.

In a statement released by the American Life League, the organization's president, Judy Brown asserted, "One wonders why these researchers from the University of California would choose this particular time to issue such faulty findings. It is seems their statement is based more on politics than on science."

Sandy Rios, president of the Culture Campaign, noted, "It just so happens that there’s legislation pending now on allowing women to be notified at 20 weeks that there may be some fetal pain and giving them the option of some sort of pain treatment."

LifeSiteNews reports that fetal pain laws are being proposed in many jurisdictions as a means of slowing down the abortion rate and, in the words of one Minnesota pro-life lobbyist, to remind the public of the humanity of the unborn.

Numerous other studies have shown that children start feeling pain as early as 20 weeks, with UK pain experts demanding that anaesthesia be used for any surgical procedure beginning at the 18th week of development.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It sounds very much like the authors have a vested interest in making sure their results indicate that pre-born babies cannot feel pain until just prior to birth. The thought of babies feeling pain as they are dismembered in the abortion process would be bad for business."

The Texans for Life Coalition points out the findings of Neurologist Dr. Paul Ranalli that even the 20-30 week child in the womb may even feel more pain than an adult. Even more remarkable, the "pain impulse connections in the spinal cord link up and reach the thalamus (the brain’s reception center): at 7-20 weeks."

Ironically, a recent study by British researchers finds that almost half of the babies who are born at 23 weeks into the pregnancy - before the third trimester - survive the premature birth.

The bottom line is, regardless of whether or not the human being in utero feels pain, there is no justification for killing that person at any point in his life prior to birth," Brown concluded. "A civilized society does not kill people simply because it has been concluded that they won't feel the pain of dying."

The Conservative Voice suggests readers contact JAMA.

Update:

La Shawn Barber responds, "If the mere possibility that innocent babies are tortured in the womb doesn’t make these women want to hang their heads in shame for advocating murder…but they’ll realize one day soon how depraved they are."

Related:

The Pain of the Unborn Child

Quotable Quotes - Fetus' Unable To Feel Pain

Update on Fetal Pain Study

Fetal pain study authors unbiased? Please!

Fetal Pain Debate Heats-Up

Abortion Fetal Pain Study Authored by Abortion Rights Activists

• Quotable Quotes - Fetus' Unable To Feel Pain - Aug 24, 2005
• Abortions Outstrip Births in Russia - Aug 24, 2005
• Update on Fetal Pain Study - Aug 24, 2005
• UN Accused of Aiding China's Mandatory Abortion Program - Aug 24, 2005
• Fetal Pain Debate Heats-Up - Aug 23, 2005
• Why Aren't Women Being Told? - Aug 23, 2005