{"id":202855,"date":"2019-05-24T06:22:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=202855"},"modified":"2019-05-23T17:07:32","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T22:07:32","slug":"popular-science-embryo-heart-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/popular-science-embryo-heart-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Science claims ‘the embryo has no heart.’ That’s not science."},"content":{"rendered":"
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A recent article in Popular Science<\/em> uses false information about fetal development to argue against pro-life heartbeat bans. The article, entitled “Six Pregnancy Facts that will make you think twice about recent abortion bills<\/a>,” shockingly and inaccurately claims “the embryo has no heart”:<\/p>\n

Many of the six-week abortion bans are referred to as ‘heartbeat’ bills, with the logic being that fetal heartbeats can be detected as early as six weeks. But the rhythm a doctor can pick up on an ultrasound at that time isn\u2019t a heartbeat, because the embryo has no heart.<\/strong> The embryo is just 3 or 4 millimeters long with no developed organs.<\/strong>\u00a0Cells are just starting to group together in ways that might eventually grow into hearts and brains.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s debunk this.<\/p>\n

1. The embryo does<\/em> have a functioning heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But according to Chapter 19 of Anatomy and Physiology<\/em><\/a>, a textbook used at Oregon State University, \u201cThe human heart is the first functional organ to develop. It begins beating and pumping blood around day 21 or 22, a mere three weeks after fertilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the textbook, by 20 days after conception, two endocardial tubes have formed, which then merge the next day into the primitive heart tube. By 22 days, the heart has separated into four distinct regions, which will give rise to the right and left atrium and the right and left ventricle.<\/p>\n

By 28 days, the heart has all four chambers it will have in an adult. (See illustration.)\u00a0Clearly, the heart exists at six weeks.<\/p>\n

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2. The embryo also has a functioning brain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The brain at six weeks has all three hemispheres and is giving off brain waves.1\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>The Visible Embryo<\/a>, a fetal development site, says that at 37-42 days: \u201c[The] brain is well marked by its cerebral hemispheres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology Today<\/em> describes the embryonic brain<\/a> this way:<\/p>\n

Well before a woman typically knows she is pregnant, her embryo\u2019s brain has already begun to bulge. By five weeks, the organ that looks like a lumpy inchworm has already embarked on the most spectacular feat of human development: the creation of the deeply creased and convoluted cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that will eventually allow the growing person to move, think, speak, plan, and create in a human way.2<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n

The brain at six weeks exists, and already has much of the same structure it will have as an adult.<\/p>\n