You didn't do a very good job side stepping my question concerning the rights of a fetus to be treated as human when murdered or the same fetus' lack of human rights when aborted.
I'm sorry, i misunderstood the question, i thought that the murder question only pertained the the homocide. No, it is not murder to abort a fetus before the third trimester.
The article does a great job of stating that the article is in fact correct. Unfortunately, my point above still stands:
Dovetailing with the work of Anand and his colleagues was that of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald has examined the developing nervous system of the rat and human fetus with special regard to the developmental neurobiology of pain (11)(12)(13). Fitzgerald has reviewed the biological development of the fetus and examined the possibility of fetal pain at each stage of development. The impression that a fetus experiences sensation is apparent at 7.5 weeks gestation when reflex responses to somatic stimuli begin. At this point touching the peri-oral region results in a contralateral bending of the head. The palms of the hands become sensitive to stroking at 10.5 weeks and the rest of the body and hindlimbs become sensitive at approximately 13.5 weeks. Shortly after the development of sensitivity, repeated skin stimulation results in hyperexcitability and a generalized movement of all limbs. This hyperexcitability has been interpreted as evidence for the presence of a functional pain system, reflecting an immature but intact pain response with early hypersensitivity to stimulation (14). This is not a view which is widely accepted, however, and is rejected by Fitzgerald herself.
Read the last paragraph. In other words, at 7.5 weeks, a fetus responds to somatic stimulation, at 10.5 weeks its hands become sensative, and at 13.5 weeks its arms and legs also respond. So there is response to touch.
Prior to 26 weeks the thalamocortical fibres have not yet penetrated the cortical plate (15), and it seems unlikely, therefore, that the cortical structures considered necessary for pain are responding to noxious stimulation.
It has no central nervous system before 26 weeks, therefore the evidence above pertaining to pain perception is incorrect.
The evidence for cortical involvement post 26 weeks is enhanced by behavioral studies which have demonstrated that the response to noxious stimulation becomes more focused and organized and can be better discriminated from other distress responses after 26 weeks (16). As with the hormonal response to surgery, the behavioral responses can be reduced with the use of appropriate anaesthetic adding support to the suggestion that these responses are related to pain perception (17).
yes, at 6 and a half months (26 weeks) a fetus may in fact feel pain. Again, i revert to my claim about the third trimester, which starts at the 25th week.