Killing in the Name of Science

In The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) a team of doctors has argued that babies (fetuses as they call them) probably do not experience pain until at least the 29th week of gestation. The paper argues that the nerve connections in the brain are not complete enough until that time in order to feel and experience pain. Well here are some of my scattered thoughts based on the New York Times article. On the JAMA website it is stated that the context for this research is due to the federal legislation that would require doctors to tell woman that after 20 weeks the baby will feel pain and they will recommend anesthesia for the child. The doctors wanted to determine what developmental age a child actual began to feel pain. The research itself is very sketchy. They used as a basis for their research other writings, whether journals or various medical reports of child pain and the like. So they are basing their conclusions solely on what others wrote? Let’s face it – they are “writing” for the choir. Pro-abortion doctors arguing (seeking) for legitimacy to their taking of unborn life. I guess abortion doctors have to provide job security as well. Dr. David A. Grimes, a former head of abortion surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had a help admission to this debate. He said, "This is an unknowable question." Dr. Grimes still performs abortions in North Carolina but he is content to say, "All we can do in medicine is to infer." So inference is their best hope for children not feeling pain. I have to wonder in the back of my mind if this research is performed for the purpose of alleviating the guilt, which doctors and nurses must experience after taking active roles in the murder of unborn children. Dr. Mark A. Rosen, an author of the journal article and chief of obstetric anesthesia at the University of California, said that we should base our decisions upon “evidence, scientific evidence, not our emotional beliefs." He believes that the evidence points to no pain in unborn children up to the 29th week of pregnancy. Part of the problem is that whenever you raise any objection to such inhumane practice you will simply be dismissed as arguing from emotion and not the facts. This fails to realize two things: First, facts are interpreted. The question then becomes what interpretive framework are you working from? Are you a secular naturalist who sees humanity as simply an evolutionary primate or are you a Biblical Christian who sees all human life created and shaped in the image of God? This matters in understanding the facts. Facts can often go both ways, and they do. Secondly, is it always wrong to argue from emotions? I don’t think so. Emotions are an integral part of our life. They cannot be separated from reason so easily as scientists seem to think. Dr. K. S. Anand, a pediatrician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, offered the most sage advice even though he is not against abortions. He said, "In the first trimester there is very likely no pain perception. By the second trimester, all bets are off and I would argue that in the absence of absolute proof we should give the fetus the benefit of the doubt if we are going to call ourselves compassionate and humane physicians." What a great concept – giving children the benefit of the doubt. But if this were to take place then abortion would be illegal. There are just too many questions to have absolute certainty. Therefore if we were to give the benefit of the doubt then abortion would be over. Even Dr. Rosen, one of the articles authors, admitted that we couldn’t know 100% whether the child does or does not experience pain. Well then, if this is so should we not give the unborn children the benefit of the doubt? Wouldn’t this be compassionate medicine? This surely is the more humane road. Another thing that I just don’t get is this – why give a child who is about to be brutally murdered anesthesia? I guess this is the humane and compassionate way to commit murder. Sadly, abortion is not going away any time soon. In America alone 1.3 million lives every year are snuffed out before they even come out of the womb. My initial reaction is that God would send his quick and swift judgment upon abortion practitioners. However, the more I thought about it the more I realize that they are desperately in need of God’s grace. While God would be glorified whether he sent out judgment or salvation it would nonetheless bring great glory to him to bring many abortion doctors and nurses to Christ. Imagine doctors who once committed abortions now decrying the practice and arguing from a Christian perspective against abortion. We certainly can and must pray for this end. UPDATE: Derek Thomas and the Guys at Reformation 21 will be blogging about this from a theological and pastoral point of view all next week. You will definitely want to see what they have to say regardless of what side of the debate you fall down on.