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From the world of Trust Science!: Fetal heartbeats do not exist

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Expect much more of this:

One of the most visible pro-abortion voices in the nation, a professor at Smith College, is leading the public narrative that insists fetal heartbeats do not exist at six weeks despite medical evidence to the contrary.

Carrie Baker’s faculty bio describes her as a professor of “reproductive justice” and “feminist public writing…

In the wake of the passage and implementation of Texas’ pro-life heartbeat bill, Baker has taken up the relatively new drumbeat by some medical professors that fetal heartbeats do not exist at six weeks gestation.

“Not only is there no heart and no heartbeat, there is no fetus,” she wrote in a Sept. 7 piece headlined: “Media repeat junk science behind abortion ban laws: Check the science —There is no heartbeat at six weeks.”

But her citation to back up her claim actually disproved her claim.

Her original piece linked to what Baker described as a “basic embryology textbook” that states the “heart begins to pump fluid through blood vessels by day 20, and the first red blood cells appear the next day.”

It is actually a Merck Manual entry on fetal development written by Dr. Raul Artal-Mittelmark, retired professor and past chairman of Saint Louis University School of Medicine’s department of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health, Just The News reports.

Also: Medical professors, media now claim fetal heartbeats do not exist at six weeks Christopher Coffey – University of Michigan, “Leading ‘reproductive justice’ professor insists fetal heartbeats do not exist” at The College Fix

Prediction: The Woke will triumph over science because the Woke care more for winning than people in science do for facts or truth.

You may also wish to read: Database! One stop shop for tracking attacks by Cancel Culture. Looking at a number of entries at once helps us grasp the extent of the takeover of our culture, especially at universities, by grievance mobs. Cancel Culture, far from going away, is ramping up. The College Fix offers a bird’s eye view of its bullies, vandals, and self-appointed censors.

Comments
WHAT AN ABSOLUTE JOKE! Just shows how desperate they are. They will do and/or say anything to justify their stance on abortion! Absolutely anything. The facts be damned! Science be damned! Don't anyone dare to ever even think about taking away our right to kill our babies! This is our God-give right! And, it can even be said to be an act of love - claimed another one of them!tjguy
October 5, 2021
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Three years ago a short book was published (Kindle) looking at a fair balancing of a woman's right vs. the life of the pre-born child: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07JM8L4RT/ It takes a novel approach to calculate the relative "value" of the "cost" to the woman of continuing the pregnancy vs. the developing "value" of the embryo/fetus as time goes on. The method used is called "quantitative ethics", and uses graphs and equations to represent the values being compared. Subject to variations in the technical assumptions, the analysis finds the crossover point where the increasing "value" of the unborn child exceeds the decreasing "cost" for the woman, to occur at about 4 weeks of development; that is around six weeks after the woman's last period. This seems to agree more or less, with the new Texas law, although it is fairly certain they did not base their law on this book!Fasteddious
October 5, 2021
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“ And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? And what dread feet? “Belfast
October 4, 2021
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Seversky's comments at 1 might best be interpreted in light of the comments from the health care spokeswoman in the video, as to whether 88 beats per minute was a source of concern in the heart of a baby at 5.5 weeks. As it happens, it's a bit slow...News
October 4, 2021
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I would also add that I think people should be educated on what happens to a baby when abortions occur... like a video of the process, etc. That would cause a reaction I'm sure as well.zweston
October 4, 2021
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ET, do you think anyone really is ignorant of what happens when you have sex? I hear your grievance that pregnancy costs the woman more, and I think that is true, especially when there isn't marriage. A man should be responsible for that child that he created, and that's also why marriage is a must before sexual activity. Men need to step up and commit and take responsibility most definitely. Men know what happens though, I think citing mass ignorance is probably pretty naive.zweston
October 4, 2021
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Zweston:
1. If the unwanted pregnancies are due to consensual sexual activity, what is the man’s fault in that? Isn’t pregnancy always a possibility in sexual activity? What would they be penalized for?
Ignorance is not an argument. You should know what happens when you have unprotected sex. The punishment would be there to make sure that you consider the ramifications of your actions. Maybe start putting an anaphrodisiac in alcohol. So yes, basic sex education would be a must.ET
October 4, 2021
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ET, A couple of thoughts... : 1. If the unwanted pregnancies are due to consensual sexual activity, what is the man's fault in that? Isn't pregnancy always a possibility in sexual activity? What would they be penalized for? 2. If it was non-consensual aka rape, I'm personally for the death penalty, so that would fix it as well. God designed sex for marriage and reproduction. When we abuse the gift outside of its God-given context, that's when we have a mess.zweston
October 4, 2021
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If we really wanted to cut down and then prevent abortions we need to heavily punish the men involved in unwanted pregnancies. Up to and including chemical castration. Men. Women. (abortion) Clinics. It is chickenscratch for MEN to write and OK laws that only punish two of the three parties involved. Especially when punishing men would cause a drastic drawback it unwanted pregnancies.ET
October 4, 2021
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How about some real Science, instead of pseudo scientific smokescreens, like arguing about heartbeats.. Like this: Human life, as with the life of any animal, begins at fertilization. That is, "when the sperm fusees with the ovum to form a new complex with distinctive DNA, that proceeds to grow and develop in a continuum. " That is what Embryology texts have taught for many decades. And obvious to any rational person who learned High School Biology 101. Which means that abortion is "the willful and planned killing of an innocent human being" AKA premeditated murder. And a complete denial of Equal Protection of the Law. Premeditated murder. Leading cause of death in America Endorsed by the elite of media, finance, law, government, and academia. Anyhow, if you disagree with Embryologists that life begins at fertilization, please tell us when human life begins, and why the gurus are wrong.TAMMIE LEE HAYNES
October 4, 2021
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Sooooooooooooooo I really hope that you posted that because you are supporting there is a heart beat It is literally the beginning of the heart Please tell your you are not really going to try to make that stand What you posted doesn’t support there’s no heartbeat, that flutter is the beginning of a heart Or do you believe hearts just suddenly go “poof” I’m here!AaronS1978
October 4, 2021
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Is a 'fetal heartbeat' really a heartbeat at 6 weeks? So far this year, 11 states have enacted 90 laws meant to restrict abortion — the most in a single year since the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Now, lawmakers in nine U.S. states have passed laws banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or at six weeks of pregnancy, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization for sexual and reproductive health research and advocacy. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about a "fetal heartbeat" at six weeks of pregnancy? Although some people might picture a heart-shaped organ beating inside a fetus, this is not the case. Rather, at six weeks of pregnancy, an ultrasound can detect "a little flutter in the area that will become the future heart of the baby," said Dr. Saima Aftab, medical director of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. This flutter happens because the group of cells that will become the future "pacemaker" of the heart gain the capacity to fire electrical signals, she said. But the heart is far from fully formed at this stage, and the "beat" isn't audible; if doctors put a stethoscope up to a woman's belly this early on in her pregnancy, they would not hear a heartbeat, Aftab told Live Science. (What's more, it isn't until the eighth week of pregnancy that the baby is called a fetus; prior to that, it's still considered an embryo, according to the Cleveland Clinic.)
Seversky
October 4, 2021
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