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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Texas Abortion Ban Hinges On 'Fetal Heartbeat.' Doctors Call That Misleading
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Stacey Burns
@WentRogue
The flickering that you see on the ultrasound that early in the development of the pregnancy is actually electrical activity, and the sound that you 'hear' is actually manufactured by the ultrasound machine.
The Texas Abortion Ban Hinges On 'Fetal Heartbeat.' Doctors Call That Misleading
The new Texas law bans abortions after a 'fetal heartbeat' is detected, usually about six weeks into pregnancy. But doctors say that's not an actual medical term, and it's being used inaccurately.
npr.org
12:51 PM · Sep 3, 2021
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/02/1033727679/fetal-heartbeat-isnt-a-medical-term-but-its-still-used-in-laws-on-abortion
The Texas abortion law that went into effect this week reads: "A physician may not knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child."
The new law defines "fetal heartbeat" as "cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac" and claims that a pregnant woman could use that signal to determine "the likelihood of her unborn child surviving to full-term birth."
But the medical-sounding term "fetal heartbeat" is being used in this law and others like it in a misleading way, say physicians who specialize in reproductive health.
"When I use a stethoscope to listen to an [adult] patient's heart, the sound that I'm hearing is caused by the opening and closing of the cardiac valves," says Dr. Nisha Verma, an OB-GYN who specializes in abortion care and works at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
*snip*
The Blue Flower
(5,420 posts)Don't try to apply it to the ignorant, malignant insanity of Texas.
North Shore Chicago
(3,254 posts)and the ugly won't allow facts and science to get in the way of figuring out all the ways to hurt females.
mopinko
(69,806 posts)i dont remember after all these years, but it's about the 4th month or so before they even start listening.
at 6 weeks, it's just a tube of cells. a pulsing blob of cells that is only pulsing so that they can align themselves as they grow. it several more weeks before it does anything but give a tiny push to the blood supply, or look anything like a heart.
paleotn
(17,781 posts)They've told us forever that "life" begins at conception. So they're OK with "murdering" fetuses (foeti?) before cardiac activity? I know they're "getting to that", but why not just ban it entirely? Go all out. It would be a lot less hypocritical.
Oh...and at 6 weeks, human embryos have gill arch and slit structures. A little formative genetics left over from our ancestors. Another bit of reality the fascist god botherers don't believe.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)a "compromise."
paleotn
(17,781 posts)samnsara
(17,570 posts)CaptainTruth
(6,546 posts)A bundle of muscle that doesn't have chambers & valves is NOT a heart.
Anyone charged under this law should be able to establish that factually, medically, & scientifically in court.
Also, if any of the Republicans who support this ever need a heart transplant, I'll be perfectly fine if doctors implant a bundle of muscle fibers that is totally incapable of pumping blood, because that's what they believe a "heart" is.
LiberalFighter
(50,504 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Slammer
(714 posts)Sounds like part of the solution is to turn off the artificial "heartbeat" sounds which are generated by the ultrasound machines.
And to comply with the law by not allowing abortions to happen after an actual heartbeat is detected.
crickets
(25,896 posts)Aussie105
(5,214 posts)Doesn't mean it's going to hatch out into a functional chicken at 21 days.
A heartbeat in a developing human fetus doesn't mean it's going to go to full term, be born normally, and develop into a functional adult with voting rights.
Just saying.
RussellCattle
(1,506 posts)....six weeks it's not yet a fetus, it's an embryo that has not yet developed a heart. How can this be made law? Only by morons whose agenda justifies anything.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7247-fetal-development-stages-of-growth