A foetus cannot feel pain before 24 weeks, finds study amid abortion debate

THE human foetus cannot feel pain before the age of 24 weeks so there is no reason to change the current abortion limit, health experts said yesterday.

Nerve connections in the brain are not sufficiently formed to allow pain perception until after the official 24-week limit for terminations, a British government-commissioned report found.

The study by members of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), also said the foetus was in a state of “continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation” even after 24 weeks.