February 26, 2024
Planned Parenthood was bound to get it right on human biology eventually. Despite being part of a movement that’s wiped out over 60 million lives in the last several decades, they’re now recognizing key milestones in human development. Planned Parenthood and a South Carolina woman are suing the state of South Carolina for the right to terminate preborn lives before a heartbeat is detected – nine weeks, by their count.
According to the article from NPR:
“The ban defines a “fetal heartbeat” as “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.”
That has been interpreted as around six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.
But physicians specializing in reproductive health call the “fetal heartbeat” language misleading.
Vicki Ringer, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic director of public affairs, said the definition describes two different points in pregnancy: an electrical impulse that appears at roughly six weeks and an actual heart, which Ringer said does not begin to form until at least nine weeks.
“This is what happens when you have legislators that try to practice medicine,” said Ringer.
It’s not the first time the law’s language has been called into question. Even when the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the law six months ago, its chief justice noted that the definition of “fetal heartbeat” is ambiguous, writing, “We leave for another day … the meaning of ‘fetal heartbeat.'”
It’s interesting how Planned Parenthood is so adamant that legislators shouldn’t practice medicine but have no problem with activists or public relations consultants doing that for their side, isn’t it?
Regardless, Planned Parenthood is wrong (shocker) about the timing of the human heartbeat being detected. They claim it’s around nine weeks – but according to the American Pregnancy Association: “Generally, 6 ½ – 7 weeks is the time when a heartbeat can be detected, and viability can be assessed. A normal heartbeat at 6-7 weeks would be 90-110 beats per minute. The presence of an embryonic heartbeat is an assuring sign of the health of the pregnancy.”
Here’s a basic logic question: If the absence of a heartbeat means death, why doesn’t the presence of a heartbeat signify life? And if something is alive, ending its life is killing it. For people with common sense, it’s a great standard for saving life and protecting mothers and preborn babies alike.
However, for the abortion mongers at Planned Parenthood, the business model isn’t about saving lives, it’s about ending them for profit. What’s even more embarrassing for Planned Parenthood than their laughable grasp of basic science is that most voters prefer limits on abortion over the limitless “on demand without apology” approach that the abortion industrial complex pushes.
Polling reported at Axios noted that by “’double-digit margins’ voters prefer candidates who support ‘a heartbeat limit, a pain-capable limit, or a similarly protective gestational limit’ as compared to “the position of abortion on demand until birth.”
Additional survey data from Students for Life of America (SFLA) & the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement (IPA) showed that:
- Not only do more than six in 10 want a limit on abortion, 37% supported protections at a confirmed heartbeat or better.
- 31% of youth voters said they would be willing to accept limits on abortion if more help was available.
- More than nine in 10 supported offering care to an infant who survives a botched abortion – 72% supported emergency measures including calling 911 with 19% desiring care, not including 911.
- Mirroring the same level of radical support as for the Democratic Party’s abortion views, only 9% picked: “Nothing should be done since the mother was trying to have an abortion done.”
We can appreciate Planned Parenthood’s willingness to change and finally admit that human life begins before birth. It’s a huge step for them. However, what’s unlikely to change is their ability to do the right thing for women. Until that day comes, Students for Life of America will be there to fight for preborn lives and women, too – working at the federal level and in each state’s unique legislative environment with our teams of committed pro-life champions.