In case you thought a fetal heartbeat means, ya know, a heart beat:
“At six weeks, the embryo is forming what will eventually develop into mature systems. There’s an immature neurological system, and there’s a very immature cardiovascular system,” says Jennifer Kerns, an ob-gyn at UC San Francisco and director of research in obstetrics and gynecology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The rhythm specified in the six-week abortion bans, she says, “is a group of cells with electrical activity. That’s what the heartbeat is at that stage of gestation … We are in no way talking about any kind of cardiovascular system.” [Wired]
So it turns out fetal heartbeat is a misnomer, as nothing at all is being pumped, and yet it’s used throughout America to sow confusion and doubt concerning abortion.
Next time you’re accosted by someone blustering about fetal heartbeats, remember the above.
