Last week it was revealed that Stacey Abrams uttered truly mindless political lies, even for her. Abrams, who is again running to be governor of Georgia, since it wasn’t enough for her to lose in 2018, is known for being radical on the issue. She's even fine with abortion up until birth. Her remarks really take the cake this time, though. In case you need a refresher, Abrams, who has no medical degree, claimed “There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks. It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman's body.”
Pro-abortion candidates lying to get their point across is nothing new. This is especially considering it’s unpopular enough once people understand how radical Abrams and other Democratic candidates are, given that they support unlimited abortion without legal limit up until birth. This time, though, Abrams really went a step further.
I’ve written about the pro-life issue for years, including when it comes to how the mainstream media, which often provides protection for their pro-abortion allies, plays a role. I’ve seen and called out attempts to dehumanize unborn babies whose hearts have just started to beat. These outlets seek to downplay that heartbeat by referring to it as “cardiac activity.”
Abrams took such dehumanization even further, though. She actually claimed “there is no such thing as a heartbeat,” and referred to it as “a manufactured sound.”
Again, Abrams has no medical degree. Those who do have affirmed that what’s in existence at that stage of an unborn child’s development is, in fact, a heartbeat. A fact-check provided by Townhall’s Mia Cathell highlighted remarks Dr. Tara Sander Lee made to LifeNews. Dr. Sander Lee not only affirmed there is a heartbeat, but that it is “actively beating” at six-weeks gestation.
If you’re a parent, or even if you’ve just been a support person at that ultrasound appointment, you know that getting to hear that heartbeat is an amazing experience. Abrams doesn’t just dehumanize unborn children, which cannot be stressed enough is the prime issue here, but she also takes away from the experience of that appointment.
I’m just about 20-weeks pregnant with our third baby girl. As I’ve chronicled in a previous column, my first pregnancy was a particularly memorable point in my life. Getting to hear my daughter’s heartbeat at my first ultrasound appointment, which took place at about eight weeks, was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Being able to humanize that baby, who just turned six last month, means more than I can put into words.
Due to my health changing since my previous two pregnancies, we were worried that this pregnancy might be high risk. I had my first appointment particularly early, and we couldn’t quite hear the heartbeat just yet. We did once we hit right past that six week mark though. Knowing that our baby had a heartbeat wasn’t just an exciting moment as parents, but we were also able to have more of a peace of mind that it was a healthy pregnancy. Being able to detect that heartbeat is how doctors know it’s a viable pregnancy in many cases.
It’s not merely because I’m currently pregnant that Abrams’ remarks are so worth getting incensed by. It’s also the cover-up behind them.
Glenn Kessler is a fact-checker for The Washington Post, and I’ll acknowledge he doesn’t always get it wrong. Boy oh boy did Kessler get it wrong when it comes to Abrams’ remarks, though. While he didn’t put out an official fact-check, at least not as of Sunday evening, he did provide cover for Abrams via a Twitter thread.
This included citing one of those mainstream media outlets I’m talking about here that provide cover for pro-abortion lies and seek to dehumanize the unborn. Kessler claimed an NPR report “offers a detailed look at a complex subject.” The word “electrical activity,” is used. Except it’s wrong, and it’s not “a complex subject,” at least not how they think of it. That’s a heartbeat, and it’s a person.
One of the worst pro-abortion media outlets and the lies with it came from The Atlantic. As Larry O’Connor pointed out, they were forced to include an extensive amount of corrections, along with a title change.
Twitter, sadly but not surprisingly, also provided cover for Abrams, and even claimed that doctors did as well.
Under the “Stacey Abrams” trend last Thursday, the context given was that “Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said there is [sic] ‘is no such thing’ as a fetal heartbeat at six weeks of pregnancy, and doctors agree one doesn’t exist during this early stage of pregnancy, reports from NBC News and NPR confirm.”
It’s not very often that a pro-lifer can say he or she agrees with Planned Parenthood, which performs more abortions than any other entity in the country. As has been highlighted, even the abortion giant themselves used to acknowledge that there’s “a very basic beating heart” by the sixth week of pregnancy. They quietly deleted it, though.
Fortunately, we don’t need to turn to Planned Parenthood, whose business is quite literally in ending the lives of unborn children and providing cover for politicians like Abrams, for facts on embryology.
In a way, perhaps pro-lifers, or anyone who just isn’t a radical pro-abortion activist, should be thankful for and welcome the opportunity Abrams has provided. There’s a chance to educate, inform, correct people about the humanity of the unborn that goes along with hearing that heartbeat. Hopefully it’s not a challenge that the pro-life movement, especially when it comes to the Republican opponents of Democrats who put forth such lies, lets slip away.