Heartbeat bill

Common card · No. 371808

A six-week abortion ban, also called a "fetal heartbeat bill" by proponents, is a law in the United States which makes abortion illegal as early as six weeks gestational age (two weeks after a woman's first missed period), which is when proponents claim that a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected. Many medical and reproductive health experts, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), say that the reference to a fetal heartbeat is medically inaccurate and misleading. They note that a conceptus is not considered a fetus until eight weeks after fertilization, and that at four weeks after fertilization the embryo only has a simple tubelike structure that will later develop into a heart. ACOG states that a "true fetal heartbeat" cannot be detected until around 17 to 20 weeks of gestation when the chambers of the heart have become sufficiently developed. Janet Porter, an anti-abortion activist from Ohio, is considered to be the...

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