Today, the Dutch parliament voted to ban shechitah. This is just one part of an ongoing battle against shechitah in several countries. As far as I am aware, the only approach used by Jewish groups to defend shechitah is to argue that it is painless. I don't know if that is true or not. (Some of the "scientific" defense of shechitah seems rather dated and biased. On the other hand, I have seen various quotes from Temple Grandin saying that shechitah can be done without undue pain, and that the main issue is how the animal is treated beforehand.)