Fetal pain: a systematic multidisciplinary review of the evidence.

Context: Proposed federal legislation would require physicians to inform women seeking abortions at 20 or more weeks after fertilization that the fetus feels pain and to offer anesthesia administered directly to the fetus. This article examines whether a fetus feels pain and if so, whether safe and effective techniques exist for providing direct fetal anesthesia or analgesia in the context of therapeutic procedures or abortion.

Evidence Acquisition: Systematic search of PubMed for English-language articles focusing on human studies related to fetal pain, anesthesia, and analgesia.