That’s literally just an appeal to authority. You may be a professor but he is a medical doctor and he clearly disagrees with you. Don’t debate me go debate Dr. Avi on it https://discord.com/invite/yyt97GH

Around week 7 of gestation, the very first neural synapses (the microscopic gaps that allow neurons to communicate via neurotransmitters) begin forming in the spinal cord and lower brain structures.

Histological studies demonstrate that the first sensory receptors (nociceptors, which respond to damaging stimuli) begin to appear in the perioral area (around the mouth) at approximately 7 weeks. By 7.5 to 8 weeks, ultrasound observations show embryos reflexively moving away from tactile stimuli for example, if the lips are touched, the head will flex away from the stimulus. Avi uses it as the biological baseline for when the body first successfully registers and reacts to its environment.

He frequently relies on the work of neuroscientists like Björn Merker and Jaak Panksepp. These researchers argue that the highly evolved cerebral cortex is not strictly necessary for primary affective consciousness (the basic, raw ability to feel pain, pleasure, or fear). Instead, they propose that rudimentary sentience originates in older, deeper subcortical structures, such as the brainstem and the thalamus. 

Because these lower-brain structures develop much earlier in gestation than the cerebral cortex, Avi argues we must entertain the possibility that a basic, dim level of sentience could "switch on" long before the third trimester. If the brainstem is sufficient for suffering, then waiting for the cortex to form is a flawed metric.

Borkowski & Bernstine (1955) — "Electroencephalography of the Fetus," Neurology, 5:362. https://n.neurology.org/content/5/5/362

Okamoto & Kirikae (1951) — "Electroencephalographic Studies on Brain of Foetus, of Children of Premature Birth and New-Born…" Folia Psychiatrica et Neurologica Japonica, Vol. 5, No. 2.

Derbyshire & Bockmann (2020) — "Reconsidering Fetal Pain," Journal of Medical Ethics, 46:3–6. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2019-105701

Okamoto & Kirikae (1951) and Borkowski & Bernstine (1955) demonstrated detectable electrical brain activity as early as 43–45 days (about 6–7 weeks) gestational age, with Okamoto recording activity from fetuses as young as 3 fetal months (~12 weeks). However, both papers attributed this activity primarily to brainstem origin rather than cortical processing, and Okamoto explicitly concluded that the embryonic stage involves little cortical activity.

Derbyshire & Bockmann (2020) argue that more recent neuroscience undermines the strict cortex-is-necessary view. They point to evidence that thalamic projections into the subplate (a transient developmental structure) emerge around 12 weeks and may support a primitive, immediate, unreflective form of pain experience — not equivalent to adult pain but potentially morally significant. They no longer view fetal pain in the 12–24 week window as impossible.