 Currently, anesthesia is administered directly to fetuses only while they are undergoing surgery.Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion pointed out that the majority of surgical abortions in Britain are already performed under general anesthesia, which also affects the fetus.In a letter to the "British Medical Journal" in April 1997, they deemed the discussion "unhelpful to women and to the scientific debate" despite a report in the "British Medical Journal" that "the theoretical possibility that the fetus may feel pain (albeit much earlier than most embryologists and physiologists consider likely) with the procedure of legal abortion".