(Press-News.org) A person's stance on abortion is linked to their, often inaccurate, belief about when a fetus can feel pain, a University of Otago study has found.
Lead author Emma Harcourt, PhD candidate in Otago's Centre for Science Communication, says misinformation about abortion and pregnancy is common and potentially harmful.
"The current medical consensus is that it is unlikely that fetal pain perception is possible before the 29th or 30th weeks of pregnancy. However, we found that most people believe that the capacity to feel pain develops much earlier and that this was particularly evident in participants with anti-abortion views," she says.
The study, published in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, recruited 374 people living in the United States and used an online questionnaire to assess their beliefs about abortion and the ability of a fetus to perceive pain.
The researchers found anti-choice participants were more likely than pro-choice participants to believe a fetus in utero can perceive pain before the 23rd week of pregnancy and in the first trimester.
Nearly 80 per cent of female participants believe a fetus can perceive pain prior to the third trimester, compared to just 56 per cent of males. This may be due to women being the targets of anti-choice disinformation campaigns, which systematically overstate the pace at which embryos and fetuses develop, Ms Harcourt says.
Interestingly, most Black and Catholic participants, along with those with advanced degrees, think fetal pain is not possible before the third trimester.
"It's possible that having an accelerated view of fetal development causes people to oppose abortion; however, it is equally possible that having anti-abortion views alters how people perceive a fetus in utero and affects their willingness to engage with information that doesn't conform with their beliefs. Further research would be needed to determine the directionality of this relationship."
Ms Harcourt says the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the important role that trust plays in the relationship between patient and practitioner.
"Being able to trust that the information given to us by our doctor is true and accurate is the bare minimum that we should expect from the medical profession. However, two-thirds of women of reproductive age in the United States live in a state that has enacted legislation requiring physicians to misinform their patients about one or more aspects of pregnancy and abortion, either verbally or through written materials provided by their state's department of health.
"In New Zealand, obstetricians and abortion providers are aware their patients often have also been exposed to false claims about fetal development and the safety of abortion. I hope this research will serve as a reminder that patients may be coming into the consulting room with potentially harmful misconceptions."
INFORMATION:
Publication details:
Opposition to abortion related to inaccurate beliefs about fetal pain perception in utero
Emma Harcourt, Jesse Bering, and Joanna Gullam
The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
DOI: 10.1111/ajo.13356
Numerous compelling evidences from astroparticle physics and cosmology indicate that the major matter component in the Universe is dark matter, accounting for about 85% with the remaining 15% is the ordinary matter. Nevertheless, people still know little about the dark matter, including its mass and other properties. Many models predict dark matter particles could couple to ordinary particle at weak interaction level, so it is possible to capture the signal of dark matter particle in the direct detection experiment. The scientific goals of the China ...
The evolution of ankle and foot bones into different shapes and sizes helped mammals adapt and thrive after the extinction of the dinosaurs, a study suggests.
A surge of evolution following the mass extinction 66 million years ago enabled mammals to diversify and prosper during a period of major global change, researchers say.
Analysis of bones that form part of the ankle and the heel of the foot reveal that mammals during this time - the Paleocene Period - were less primitive than previously thought.
Palaeontologists from the University of Edinburgh made the discovery by comparing the anatomy of Paleocene mammals with species from the earlier Cretaceous ...
As we move through the world, what we see is seamlessly integrated with our memory of the broader spatial environment. How does the brain accomplish this feat? A new study from Dartmouth College reveals that three regions of the brain in the posterior cerebral cortex, which the researchers call "place-memory areas," form a link between the brain's perceptual and memory systems. The findings are published in Nature Communications.
"As we navigate our surroundings, information enters the visual cortex and somehow ends up as knowledge of where we are - the question is where this transformation into spatial ...
A research group has developed an ion-selective smart porous membrane that can respond to outer stimuli, potentially paving the way for new applications in molecular separation and sensing applications.
Porous thin films have attracted the attention of scientists because of their potential use in sensors, energy harvesting, and ion/molecular separation.
Nanostructure properties, such as pore size, thickness, and film density, affect molecular selectivity and molecular permeability. Surface properties also have a significant impact on molecular selectivity.
Thus it is important to be able to control both the 3D nanostructures and surface properties of ultrathin porous films.
Previous research shed light on smart porous membranes, which are covered with molecules that can respond ...
Eating a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is associated with less stress, according to new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU).
The study examined the link between fruit and vegetable intake and stress levels of more than 8,600 Australians aged between 25 and 91 participating in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) Study from Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.
The findings revealed people who ate at least 470 grams of fruit and vegetables daily had 10 per cent lower stress levels than those who consumed less than 230 grams. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends ...
Arizona! The sunsets. The saguaros. The snakes.
All of them are part of life in the sunny Southwest, but keeping cool when the latter is holed up in a golf bag, air compressor or swimming pool pump house is a big ask for a lot of people.
Not as big as you'd think, however.
The first study to analyze snake removals in a social-ecological context was recently published by an Arizona State University conservation biologist working with a local rattlesnake removal company.
"I think one of the surprises was that people don't hate snakes," said researcher Heather Bateman of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. "A lot of them responded that the snakes are important to the desert ecosystem and the snake belongs ...
Optical imaging systems have been playing an essential role in scientific discovery and societal progress for several centuries. For more than 150 years scientists and engineers have used aberration theory to describe and quantify the deviation of light rays from ideal focusing in an imaging system. Until recently most of these imaging systems included spherical and aspherical refractive lenses or reflective mirrors or a combination of both. With the introduction of new ultra-precision manufacturing methods, it has become possible to fabricate lenses and mirrors that lack the common translational or ...
The relevance for radiology applications is probably the most known advantage of X-ray beams (keV energies) with respect to visible radiation (eV energies) and can be traced back to their superior penetration depth. On a more fundamental ground, however, the relevance of this photon energy range relies on the capability of probing inner shell electrons (as they have comparable binding energies) and mapping molecular structures on the atomic-scale (as typical interatomic spacings are comparable to X-ray wavelengths). Building on such capabilities, large efforts have been devoted by the scientific community to develop X-ray sub-picosecond sources able to access matter properties with a time resolution sufficient to access elemental molecular motions. Free electron lasers (FEL), nowadays available ...
UNSW medical researchers have found a way to starve pancreatic cancer cells and 'disable' the cells that block treatment from working effectively. Their findings in mice and human lab models - which have been 10 years in the making and are about to be put to the test in a human clinical trial - are published today in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"Pancreatic cancer has seen minimal improvement in survival for the last four decades - and without immediate action, it is predicted to be the world's second biggest ...
The Indian public blamed foreigners, minority groups and doctors for the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the country during the first wave, due to misinformation, rumour and long-held discriminatory beliefs, according to an international study led by Monash University.
This resulted in people refusing to get tested for fear of humiliation or public reprisals, which included attacks on Muslims and health care workers.
However, when presented with accurate and reliable information about the virus spread, the Indian public back-pedalled on those negative sentiments and were more likely to get tested and seek medical help, highlighting the importance of health advice from credible sources.
A ...
