Sentient Beings

How do women in a high-stess, high-risk pregnancies feel about the thing that is inside them? Some states in the U.S. now require the abortionist to offer the woman anaesthesia for the fetus, since it almost certainly can feel pain from twenty weeks and probably before that.

This is clearly what the philosophers call a sentient being. Cutting a dog or cat to pieces without trying to alleviate the pain and terror of the experience could put you in court; at the least, very unpleasant publicity would given you. (Well, unless you're a scientist in a laboratory, "working for the good of mankind".) So, how does this happen everyday to human beings without the press raising holy hell about it?

Of Note: "The Science of Fetal Pain (NY Times Magazine)"

(Via First Things.)