LONDON: Britain’s Daily Mail reports that a 17-week-old fetus was captured smiling in a sonogram scan. According to the publication, “The scan ... implies that a baby can experience feelings such as happiness and pain much earlier in its development than previously thought.”
The child in the image belongs to Louise and Sam Henry from Swallowfield, Berkshire, who have indicated that they are shocked to see such an image in what is typically a routine scan.
Mr. Henry said, “Your primary concern at that stage is that you have a healthy baby but to see the fetus smiling was absolutely fantastic.”
Baby Henry is due in January.
Likewise, the scan contests claims made by pro-choice supporters that fetuses are incapable of feeling pain or any senses while in the womb, an argument that has been used to dispute claims that abortions are painful procedures to the fetus.
Campbell does not fully understand what caused the smile, but ventured a guess that it involves the same elements that cause a crying face: “It is part of a sequence that involves yawning and making breathing movements and opening its eyelids and, of course, it makes a crying face.”
Jauniaux adds, “At 17 weeks the connection between the brain and the rest of the body is very limited.”
According to a nurse present during the surgery, babies undergoing surgery do that “all the time.”
