Foetus article writer swamped with protests

THE editor of a US medical journal who published an article saying foetuses probably do not feel pain until late pregnancy has been swamped by “horrible, vindictive” emails.

Dr Catherine DeAngelis, editor in chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and a staunch Roman Catholic, was one of five authors of the report in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. She said she was being attacked by “people with no medical background, no science background, religious fanatics, people who are mean-spirited”.

The article prompted harsh letters from abortion foes because one of the authors, Dr Elanor Drey, is a University of California San Francisco obstetrician who works at an abortion clinic.