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Babies In The Womb Can Sense Touch And Pain

Study: Unborn Babies Can Differentiate Touch, Pain in Womb

A new study from England finds unborn children have the capacity to differentiate touch from pain in the womb and they are able to do so as early as 28-35 weeks into pregnancy. Other studies have shown unborn children can experience pain much earlier.

Conducted by researchers at the University College London, the study found unborn children can feel pain around the 35th week of pregnancy. The scientists determine this by using EEG to record brain activity in response to pain and comparing the responses from a positive touch versus a painful goof in the foot.

"Babies can distinguish painful stimuli as different from general touch from around 35 to 37 weeks gestation - just before an infant would normally be born," Lorenzo Fabrizi, lead author of the study, told ABC News about the study published in the journal Current Biology.

The babies the researchers evaluated were between the ages of 28 and 35 weeks into pregnancy and they all showed the same increased levels of brain activities to both the touch and painful goof, but the study found babies at 35 weeks gestation have a greater brain activity level to the goof than the touch.

Dr. David Prentice, a former biology professor at Indiana State University who is now a fellow with the Family Research Council, told LifeNews that fetal pain is not a new concept and that it is measured much earlier than this study suggests. He also cautions about the interpretation of the study, pointing out that an ABC News report saying "Babies Feel Pain at 35 to 37 Weeks of Development, Experts Say" is "inaccurate and misleading."

"It's important for people to understand that the study suggests unborn babies can differentiate touch from pain at 35 weeks," Prentice said. "But numerous studies document that unborn babies can certainly feel pain well before this point in their life. Ref. Source 9

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Study: Facial Expressions of Unborn Babies in the Womb Show They Feel Pain

A newly-published research study shows unborn children are capable of feeling pain in the womb, as evidenced by the grimaces they show in their facial expressions. The study will soon be published in the academic journal PLOS ONE.

Researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities in England say unborn babies learn to show pain in their facial expressions as part of the process of fetal development. Ref. Source 9

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They are happy. They are angry. They are fearful. They like music. And already, they like sweet treats. Ref. Source 4