{"id":276699,"date":"2022-09-24T09:39:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T14:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=276699"},"modified":"2022-09-23T20:57:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T01:57:15","slug":"planned-parenthood-erases-heartbeat-information-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/planned-parenthood-erases-heartbeat-information-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Planned Parenthood erases certain information on prenatal heartbeats from its website"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As arguments over embryonic and fetal heartbeats dominate headlines<\/a>, Planned Parenthood has quietly scrubbed its website of accurate information on fetal development \u2014 including information on when a preborn child’s heart begins beating.<\/p>\n

Politician Stacey Abrams (buoyed by Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler) recently claimed that a preborn child’s heartbeat is a “manufactured” sound meant to emotionally influence women towards choosing life instead of abortion. \u201cThere is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cIt is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kessler added, \u201cFWIW, \u2018fetal heartbeat\u2019 is a misnomer. The ultrasound picks up electrical activity generated by an embryo. The so-called \u201cheartbeat\u201d sound you hear is created by the ultrasound. Not until 10 weeks can the opening and closing of cardiac valves be detected<\/em> by a Doppler machine\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n

The conversation on embryonic heartbeats went viral, and it turned out that Planned Parenthood had edited its own website to remove the admission that a preborn child’s heartbeat begins to beat within the first weeks of pregnancy. John McCormack, a journalist at the National Review, pointed out on Twitter that Planned Parenthood’s website still included this information as recently as July. Originally, the website noted that during week five and six (gestational age), “A very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop.”<\/p>\n

Now, that information is gone.\u00a0Instead, the site now reads, “A part of the embryo starts to show cardiac activity. It sounds like a heartbeat on an ultrasound, but it’s not a fully-formed heart \u2014 it’s the earliest stage of the heart developing.”<\/p>\n

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As of a few months ago, Planned Parenthood's website said that "a very basic beating heart" develops by 6 weeks of pregnancy.https:\/\/t.co\/UC16XqJvBS<\/a><\/p>\n

1\/2https:\/\/t.co\/MmwwOh8LLA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TcPiFvbOmL<\/a><\/p>\n

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) September 22, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n