So as the barrage of “heartbeat” bills fill the halls of state legislatures that, you know, should really be doing something to actually help their constituents, we’ve been struggling with what to rename them. I mean, 6-week abortion ban works, total abortion ban works. Our leader Lizz Winstead suggests “two-weeks after a missed period ban” which we think does have a certain ring to it. But we knew and you knew, that what happens at that time period, isn’t a “heartbeat” and that this language was taking the language of hate groups and Hallmark cards to make it seem like abortion “Stopped a heartbeat.”
Well enter Dr. Jen Gunter who has a GREAT takedown of the whole thing. And she’s a DOCTOR, y’all, so she actually knows what she’s talking about.
(Wait we wanna sidebar here real quick at how BIZARRE the anti-choice movement is when dealing with doctors. It’s like they think… doctors don’t want ANYONE to survive ever…. In an article today the leader of March for Life *already a red flag* says this “While the proposed legislation stipulates that abortions after 24 weeks can only be performed if “there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient's life or health” based on “reasonable and good faith professional judgment,” this still leaves the life of the unborn child up to the discretion of health care practitioners who may have varying interpretations of what it means to protect a patient's health.” WHAT????? I mean, whose hands are you arguing the safety of a patient should be in? YOURS??? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? OR ARE YOU SAYING GOD’S HANDS??? IN WHICH CASE, CONGRATS, YOU SHOWED YOUR HAND HERE, YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN DOCTORS.)
Anyway, Dr. Gunter expertly lays out what the sac of cells at 6 weeks actually looks like (you gotta click through but it’s worth it to see). She reminds us of the hilarity that the anti-choice movement basically thinks that fetuses are like those toys where you add water and they grow bigger. And she argues we should call these bills “fetal pole cardiac activity” bills. Because maybe laws shouldn’t be so imprecise! Right!?
