Kevyn

From this mornings Guardian:

High-profile gynecologists are criticizing the framing of six-week a******n bans, known as “fetal heartbeat” bills, as medically inaccurate.

The bans, now moving through nearly a dozen state legislatures, propose the strictest limitations on the right to a******n as established by the US supreme court case Roe v Wade in 1973.

“These bills present the idea that there’s something that looks like what you or a person on the street would call a baby – a thing that’s almost ready to go for a walk,” said Dr Jen Gunter, a gynecologist in Canada and the US who runs an influential blog. “In reality, you’re talking about something that’s millimeters in size and doesn’t look anything like that.”

That early in a pregnancy, Gunter said, an embryo does not have a heart – at least, not what we understand a human heart to be, with pumping tubes and ventricles. At six weeks, a human embryo throbs, but those tissues have not yet formed an organ, so the pulsing should not be confused with a heartbeat.

“When throbbing of some tissue begins, it’s not a heart,” said Dr Sara Imershein, a gynecologist and obstetrician in Falls Church, Virginia. “Really, we call it an embryo until about nine weeks from last menstrual period,” or roughly three weeks after the new laws prohibit termination of pregnancy.

A******n opponents rally on the steps of the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia.
A******n opponents rally on the steps of the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. Photograph: Steve Helber/AP
It would be more accurate to call these bills “fetal pole activity” measures, said Gunter. Though it doesn’t roll off the tongue, the term would capture the state of an embryo at six weeks, which appears more fish-like than human baby.

“It’s a process – the heart doesn’t just pop up one day,” said Imershein. “It’s not a little child that just appears and just grows larger”, in contrast to imagery often invoked by anti-a******n campaigns of embryos as tiny, miniaturized infants.

Misleading names like “heartbeat”move the debate away from medical considerations for a woman’s decision to get an a******n, said Gunter.

Similarly, the phrase “late-term” is misleading. A normal human gestation is 40 weeks. Medically speaking, “late-term” means 41-42 weeks.

But anti-a******n activists twisted the phrase into a political construct understood to be any a******n after the 21st week, late in the second trimester. “Nobody is doing late-term a******ns – it doesn’t happen,” said Gunter of the medical definition. “But it’s become a part of our lexicon now.”

She recalled an instance when she worked in Kansas, where a******ns were banned at publicly funded medical centers. She had a first trimester patient with a serious and deteriorating medical condition. Her doctor recommended termination. In order to get clearance, Gunter was patched through to the state senator who sponsored the law. “I had to explain [it] to him. I had to ask him permission to do the a******n.”

“What was really shocking to me was that when I called him – I had researched everything so that I could give him all the statistics – and I barely said two lines and he said, ‘Oh doctor, do wh**ever you think is necessary’,” she said. “If doing what I thought is necessary is what you believe in, why have the law?”

Gunter said six weeks is not enough time to make informed medical choices. It’s before most women know they’re pregnant, and before fetal malformations can be diagnosed. The risks of medical conditions, such as lupus, won’t be apparent that early. There are some heart conditions “where we say, you should not be pregnant”, said Gunter. “The risk of death is 50%. We know that the second the pregnancy test is positive. But what if that person doesn’t seek medical care until they’re eight weeks?”

“The whole point [of these bills] is to introduce terminology that makes people think differently about pregnancy,” said Gunter.

In practice, she said, six-week measures are effectively a******n bans – a fact that misleading names such as “heartbeat bill” could obscure. “We can’t use the incorrect language in the bills,” said Gunter. “Because once you start using incorrect language, you’ve basically conceded.”

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

Start this video at about 1:58 and listen to the heartbeat......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xuwMuba0c

proud republican Loc: RED CALIFORNIA

That's right..Kevyn were you ever pregnant???...I was ..and yes at 6 weeks you CAN hear heartbeat at 6 weeks!!!

bahmer

Remember you are dealing with the mighty brain of the great progressive Kevyn whjo is able to be on the wrong side of everything discussed here on OPP.

TrueAmerican

Some people just are too too stupid to know. Have you ever been to a soni-gram with you wife --- I have and for the stupid or ignorant people of the world, who have not, you can see the baby's form (legs, arms, head, feet, fingers, toes and even the sex) and you can hear it's heartbeat. L*****t liberal trying to tell you again not to believe what you hear and see for yourself. They will gladly (with perversion) t***slate for you what it truly is --- what a joke !!!!!!

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I have indeed done that.. while you do not make any mention as to age of the fetus, It sounds near 16/18 weeks..

I also sat in on the delv of my twin boys... did you ever match that..

I should add that darn near the entire hospital came in to celebrate the occasion..

A fetus remains a fetus until the baby can survive on its own outside of mom and her safe place..

Mikeyavelli

According to the kommiecrats, a human life is not viable until it has been on three government programs, preferably food stamps and Obamacare, and gone through a Common Core education. If this mass makes it to 26 years old and gets dropped from mommy's Obamacare, then it shouldn't be legally aborted. But until then, it's not a human life.

Rose42

I did a quick search for fetal heartbeats at 6 weeks and there are a lot of links that say there is one.

Kevyn's article is just another pro-a******n article - "high profile gynecologists" or not.

Brad1040

Funny thing about libs (Kevyn) is that they do not believe in executing k**lers but have no issue in executing babies.

Ricktloml

Oh, that was good

Ricktloml

When you're a member of a cult, twisting facts is no problem. That's what a******n is-a death cult

Mikeyavelli

You know, I can usually see why the kommiecrats hold a position. But a******n, I can't figure out why the kommiecrats think that is so necessary.
Woman's body? Sorry, it's the little body that has rights. The kommiecrats think that a life must occupy a length of time longer than 9 months to become a human.

promilitary

Have you lost your everlovin' mind!!!!! No such thing as a fetal heartbeat???? Christ, you have!!!

son of witless

Have you ever noticed that when a human life becomes inconvenient for other humans, they label it as non human, so that it is easier to k**l ? The N**is labeled Jews, Gypsies, and others as sub humans. Sub humans and non humans inconvenience those with power. Fetuses are extremely inconvenient because Liberals have elevated Women to goddess status. Well not really. They pretend to do that to flatter the women. Anywho, they label, those who see the unborn as human lives, as women oppressing evil doers. They are the villains of our story. Liberals always need villains. Villains who oppress women by forcing them to become baby factories.

Well this fairy tale can only be true if unborn babies are non human. One Liberal I recently talked to about a******n compared unborn babies to frogs. Because frog legs in a fry pan twitch while you cook them, he implied that was proof that unborn babies do not feel pain while being butchered alive during an a******n.

Mikeyavelli

Baloney, I have memories of my fetal days. I went up to 8 pounds and started to worry about getting out. It was cramped, but nice. I felt the pats and pushes, and wanted to know who was behind all those voices.