James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, let us get the record straight. The idea that a foetus at 21 weeks could feel more pain than a newborn child is utterly unfounded. I know that is not part of this discussion, but several Senators have raised it. In 2005, a multidisciplinary systematic review of evidence in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that "evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester". It went on to state that "the capacity for conscious perception of pain can arise only after thalamocortical pathways begin to function, which may occur in the third trimester around 29 to 30 weeks' gestational age". When the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London examined this matter in 2010, its main findings were that the foetus cannot feel pain before 24 weeks because the connections in the foetal brain, between the periphery and the cortex, are not yet fully formed.

There is some evidence that suggests that the foetus, while in the chemical environment of the womb, is in a state of induced sleep and is unconscious. Therefore, the report concluded that because the 24 week old foetus has no awareness or cannot feel pain the use of analgesia is of no benefit.

I want to quickly address some of the issues raised. I find it regrettable that Senator Walsh has engaged in the dramatic and very upsetting - what some people would describe as offensive - description of procedures that do not take place in this country, and will not take place in this country. He said that we cannot guarantee that they have not taken place. He implied that.