Fetal pain

That this House welcomes the report on Foetal Sentience and Pain commissioned by the all-party Parliamentary pro-life group; recognises that recent research by Dr Stuart WG Derbyshire and John C Bockmann PA in the Journal of Medical Ethics supports the view that babies in the womb may feel pain from as early as 12 weeks’ gestation; welcomes the provision of pain relief for babies in the womb undergoing surgery for spina bifida between 20 and 26 weeks’ gestation; regrets the inconsistency in NHS practice that recommends pain relief for spina bifida surgery from 20 weeks’ gestation but not for abortion at the same gestation; notes that the killing of protected animals from two-thirds of gestation is subject to tighter legal regulation than unborn humans being aborted from the same stage of development; and calls on the Government to review its official guidance on fetal pain, requiring that pain relief be provided from at least 12 weeks’ gestation for all invasive medical procedures involving babies in the womb, including abortion.