Democratic Gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams claimed that a fetal "heartbeat at six weeks" did not exist and was propaganda to discourage abortion at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday.
Abrams, who is running against Republican Governor Brian Kemp for the second time after losing her first bid for office in 2018, suggested the idea was a talking point designed to discourage women from seeking abortions.
"There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks," Abrams declared. "It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman's body"
Abrams appeared to refer to Georgia's current anti-abortion bill, Living Infants and Fairness Equality (LIFE) Act, originally introduced and passed in 2019. Though the bill was subsequently overturned in 2020, the decision was reversed this year after the Supreme Court overturned 1973's Roe v. Wade's ruling. Georgia's LIFE Act seeks to protect unborn babies once a heartbeat is detected around six weeks of gestation.
"An unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain," the bill's text reads. "There is evidence that by 20 weeks' gestation unborn children seek to evade certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted to be a response to pain."
The Charlotte Lozier Institute corroborates the Georgia bill's claims, stating "a preborn baby at 6 weeks’ gestation ... is already a complex human being," according to senior fellow and director of life sciences at the nonprofit Dr. Tara Sander Lee. "A preborn baby’s heart is actively beating at 6 weeks and will have already beat nearly 16 million times by 15 weeks. In fact, at 6 weeks’ gestation, the baby’s heart rate is about 98 beats per minute, which can be easily detected by ultrasound."
The nonprofit institute further states other features of an unborn baby at six weeks gestation:
Pradheep J. Shanker, radiologist and owner of radiology and medical service provider Pharon Systems LLC, provided additional context on fetal heartbeats in a Wednesday Tweet: "Is the fetal heart fully developed? OF COURSE NOT. But it is still contracting, in the process of its development. I could go through the embryology of this ... but I hated embryology. Note that by five weeks, the fetal heart has four chambers, an aortic tract, and contracts."
"That is why so many oppose ultrasounds prior to abortions. They want to hide the scientific reality," Shanker said in a follow-up tweet.
"If you want to support abortion, fine. But don't lie about what you are doing," Shanker said in conclusion.
