Research reported in January suggested that an unborn baby can feel pain from well before the time it was previously thought, maybe from as young as 12 weeks.
Published in the BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics, it was carried out by two researchers, one pro-life and the other pro-abortion, making it unique in this respect.
Pain pre-birth is contentious, as it is often cited to restrict abortion access. The researchers said: ‘Most reports on the possibility of foetal pain have focused on developmental neuroscience.