Georgia gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams spurned assertions that a fetal heartbeat can be detected around six weeks of gestation.
Abrams, an outspoken critic of Georgia’s “heartbeat” bill that went into effect after the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June, claimed there was “no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks” of pregnancy, saying the sound was “manufactured.”
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“There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks,” Abrams declared at an event at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center in Atlanta on Tuesday. “It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body.”
WATCH: STACEY ABRAMS SUPPORTS ABORTION ‘UNTIL THE TIME OF BIRTH’ IN SOME CASES
Abrams further asserted that the Georgia law should not be called a “Fetal Heartbeat Bill” because “that’s medically false, biologically a lie.”
The law permits women to obtain abortions until a fetal heartbeat can be detected — something proponents of the bill claim can occur as soon as six weeks. After that point, abortions are only allowed in limited circumstances, such as medical emergencies. The premise is that once a heartbeat is detected, the unborn child should receive legal protection against termination.
https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1572958894108049412?s=20&t=tPey0F9VstImCOoKcCeJTwScientists disagree on the point during pregnancy when a fetal heartbeat can first be heard. The American Pregnancy Association advises that a “fetal pole or even a fetal heartbeat” can be heard via ultrasound at around six weeks.
Other scientists dispute this, arguing that the fetal cardiovascular system is not fully formed and that the fluttering heard is mere “electrical” exchanges from a “group of cells” near where the heart would be located, WIRED reported.
Abrams also recently drew ire from conservatives on abortion during an appearance on The View in which she declined to back a gestational limit on the controversial procedure.
“I believe that abortion is a medical decision, not a political decision,” she said. “And arbitrary, politically defined timelines are deeply problematic because they ignore the reality of medical and physiological issues.”
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Strict abortion laws like the one in the Peach State have increasingly become a rallying cry for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Abrams is facing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp in a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2018 showdown. She ran a tight race against Kemp in 2018 and rose to prominence in Democratic circles as a result.
Abrams is trailing Kemp by 6.6 points in the latest Real Clear Politics polling aggregate.
