# When, why, and how are fetuses to be aborted given anesthesia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386 "2013-06-19T19:10:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/1 "2013-06-19T19:10:14Z")
See subject. The details are critical to a bill before the US Congress. It’s up to you to keep this in GQ. I hope it stays here. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/2 "2013-06-19T19:28:38Z")
I have never read that fetuses (feti?) are ever treated with anesthesia. Is this a thing that is done? And I’m not really familiar with the bill in Congress, so I don’t know how that plays either. To be sure, I don’t really follow this issue too closely, so color me clueless. **Leo Bloom** (or someone), could you give a little bit of GQ-level background facts about this? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/3 "2013-06-19T19:40:33Z")
Not needed > **[Fetal pain: a systematic multidisciplinary review of the evidence - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16118385/)** > > Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester. Little or no evidence addresses the effectiveness of direct fetal anesthetic or analgesic techniques.... > [@](#): > > Fetal awareness of noxious stimuli requires functional thalamocortical connections. Thalamocortical fibers begin appearing between 23 to 30 weeks’ gestational age, while electroencephalography suggests the capacity for functional pain perception in preterm neonates probably does not exist before 29 or 30 weeks. For fetal surgery, women may receive general anesthesia and/or analgesics intended for placental transfer, and parenteral opioids may be administered to the fetus under direct or sonographic visualization. In these circumstances, administration of anesthesia and analgesia serves purposes unrelated to reduction of fetal pain, including inhibition of fetal movement, prevention of fetal hormonal stress responses, and induction of uterine atony. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/4 "2013-06-19T19:40:38Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See subject. The details are critical to a bill before the US Congress. > > It’s up to you to keep this in GQ. I hope it stays here. What? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/5 "2013-06-19T21:17:45Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > What? :dubious: Basically he’s saying he wants a factual answer separate from its political ramifications, and so would appreciate if the posters would refrain from dragging politics into it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/6 "2013-06-19T21:22:04Z")
1. From _The Hill_: [House passes late-term abortion ban](http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/306355-house-passes-controversial-late-term-abortion-ban) By Pete Kasperowicz - 06/18/13 06:45 PM ET The House voted Tuesday to impose a nationwide ban on abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy over Democratic objections that the bill represents a dramatic attempt by Republicans to restrict abortion rights. [snip] With limited exceptions, the legislation would ban the abortion of a fetus older than 20 weeks old, or at 22 weeks of pregnancy under a different measuring system. The ban would be backed by possible fines against doctors, as well as prison sentences of as many as five years. As controversial as the bill is, however, today’s House vote likely ends the process in Congress, as the Democratic Senate is not expected to consider it at all. President Obama threatened to veto the measure on Monday. 1. [Previous coverage from _The Hill_ of the House proceedings (search under “fetus” AND “pain”).](http://thehill.com/index.php?as_q=Fetus+pain&btnG.x=0&btnG.y=0&btnG=Search&Itemid=315&option=com_gsearch) 1. [Google news search (“Bill fetus pain”)](https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+fetus+pain&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#q=bill+fetus+pain&safe=off&client=safari&hl=en&source=univ&tbm=nws&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=XB_CUcz9EvOv4APhioCIBQ&ved=0CEAQqAI&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.48175248,d.dmg&fp=5ae8006fd0e4a5f4&biw=1024&bih=673) 1. [Google Scholar search (“fetal pain”).](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=fetal+pain&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=-h_CUbSHHsXJ4AOI04GYDg&ved=0CC8QgQMwAA) Please don’t reply with “read the damn Google Scholar cites.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/7 "2013-06-19T21:56:17Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Basically he’s saying he wants a factual answer separate from its political ramifications, and so would appreciate if the posters would refrain from dragging politics into it. And there was no better way to word that? It read like it was translated by SETI ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-and-how-are-fetuses-to-be-aborted-given-anesthesia/661386/8 "2013-06-19T22:32:17Z")
I thought it was fairly obvious what he meant.