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Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia is urging Australian health ministers to mandate the communication of research into foetal pain to anyone planning an abortion.

New research backs a grieving British mother’s legal bid to compel abortion clinics to disclose that unborn children feel pain as early as 12 weeks.

Ana-Maria Tudor, 32, was not informed that her 23-week-gestation baby would feel pain when it was decapitated in April 2017, and is now suing the British Pregnancy Advisory Service that conducted the abortion with NHS funding.

“I did not find out a baby at 23 weeks might be able to feel pain until afterwards. It made me feel awful and I now deeply regret my decision,” Ms Tudor said.

Official guidelines and abortion information booklets in Britain and Australia do not protect a mother’s right to know that babies may feel pain in the first trimester.

Across the western world, unborn babies are not given any form of pain relief during the macabre decapitation (beheading) or limb-from-limb dismemberment procedures.

A recent British Medical Journal research paper highlights findings that point to 12 week old unborn infants possessing pain-sensing neurological pathways.

FamilyVoice spokesman Darryl Budge said this research must lead to updating documents that provide informed consent.

“All Australian health departments must update their websites and information booklets,” he said.

“Health ministers would be irresponsible if they did not instruct abortion clinics about their duty of care to inform parents about foetal pain from 12 weeks gestation.”