They feel pain at 20 weeks post-fertilization. These statements, and others like them, are problematic because of their definitive nature. Scientific research on pain in the fetus is extremely complicated, primarily because pain is a subjective experience and a fetus cannot indicate if something hurts.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/ar-BBjV7my
The real significance of the fetal pain question is in it's implications about the unborn. People feel pain. Inanimate clumps of cells do not. This is what is at stake. This is why most abortion supporters work so hard to oppose legislation like The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, introduced on January 26, 2005.
http://www.abort73.com/abortion/does_a_fetus_feel_pain/
Noem also mentioned that a fetus at 20 weeks “could be viable outside the womb with proper care.” Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, also mentioned this and cited a recent study on extremely preterm infants:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/ar-BBjV7my
Many pro-life doctors maintain that fetuses can feel pain by 8 weeks after fertilization (about the time most surgical abortions take place). Pro-abortion doctors tend to argue that fetuses don't experience pain until the very end of pregnancy.
http://www.abort73.com/abortion/does_a_fetus_feel_pain/
The only question is when do fetuses feel pain? The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act places a fetus' ability to feel pain at 20 weeks from fertilization, about half way through pregnancy. Twenty weeks is a conservative enough estimate that even some prominent abortion supporters have conceded it's reliability.
http://www.abort73.com/abortion/does_a_fetus_feel_pain/
A number of Republican House members say scientific research proves a 20-week-old fetus can feel pain. This is a complicated and controversial topic in science, but the ability to feel pain at that specific point in gestation is unproven.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/ar-BBjV7my
The fetal pain question is not at all central to the abortion debate. Whether the unborn child suffers pain during an abortion or not is secondary to the much bigger reality; the child is being killed. Quietly shooting someone in their sleep makes you no less guilty of murder than if you had stabbed them to death.
http://www.abort73.com/abortion/does_a_fetus_feel_pain/
Most abortions occur during the first trimester of pregnancy. However, a significant number of abortions occur much later in pregnancy. Pro-life advocates have claimed that at least some of these fetuses are capable of feeling pain during the abortion procedure. Although the fetus develops rapidly (e.g., the heart begins to beat within three weeks of conception), brain development continues throughout pregnancy and after birth.
http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/fetal_pain.html
In fact, there is evidence that the pain that the unborn baby feels is even more intense than what a young child or an adult would feel because their nervous system isn’t developed enough to block that pain. In testimony before Congress in 2005, however, Anand was specifically asked about this idea.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/ar-BBjV7my
Conclusion. At this point, it is uncertain whether a fetus experiences pain during the first trimester of development, when most abortions occur. However, recent studies have shown that the fetus most certainly does feel pain by the end the second trimester, when late-term and partial birth abortions are performed.
http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/fetal_pain.html
how early do fetus' feel pain
A fetus can feel pain 8 weeks after fertilization. A fetus feels the pain 8 weeks after fertilization.