Anyone who has had a 24 weeker survive as I have, views this research as appallingly obvious. Some nurses in the NICU didn't believe the babies could feel pain and acted callously accordingly. My sons had heel sticks multiple times a day and screamed every time--a silent scream because they were intubated and couldn't make a sound (air has to pass over the vocal chords to make noise). It was BARBARIC.
Why has this research taken so long to come out since babies this small have been surviving for years? Politics.
For those who support abortion, especially late-term abortions that can be conducted up until 24 weeks (the age my sons were when they were born), they don't want to know that babies that weigh one pound feel pain and demonstrate higher brain functioning. Which this research says they clearly do.
My babies avoided the ultrasound when it was pointed at them at 18 weeks gestation, it made me wonder, then, if they felt pain--it is heat afterall. You would feel pain if ultrasound stayed in one place too long on your leg and you're not 8 ounces.
See, the whole abortion argument becomes ever more precarious should pain and higher brain functioning be demonstrated earlier--which as technology gets sophisticated enough to measure--it, no doubt, will.
It makes me sick how people, wanting to believe a certain thing so heartily, are willing to ignore the suffering in front of their faces. If you had seen what I saw for four months in the NICU, you'd want some medical practitioners prosecuted for torture. What these babies endure dwarfs the discomfort the Iraqi prisoners felt at the hands of their American captors. You wouldn't believe me if I told you...so today I'll spare you the details. It's hard for me even to recount it, honestly.
Suffice it to say: Premature babies feel pain, every bit of it.
While the comparison to torture in Iraqi prisons is a non sequitur, the statements about premature babies is spot on. I can remember those days, watching the robotic movements of the nurses that seemingly did not see this baby as human, but instead as an object to prod. There is nothing more beautiful than a baby, no matter the age. The more we can educate the masses on what is actually being aborted, the sooner we can end this barbarism. Politics will not solve this problem.
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