It’s been revealed that America’s leading abortion provider has changed information on its website about foetal heartbeats and ectopic pregnancies.
Pro-life groups say it’s to reinforce a hardline pro-abortion stance ahead of next month’s mid-term elections in which the issue is expected to be a significant factor.
According to internet archives, Planned Parenthood’s website used to say that a “very basic beating heart and circulatory system develops” during weeks 5-6 of pregnancy.
Now the site claims that during those weeks “a part of the embryo starts to show cardiac activity.”
It adds that “it sounds like a heartbeat on an ultrasound, but it’s not a fully-formed heart – it’s the earliest stage of the heart developing.”
Pro-lifers believe the change was made to support claims by the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor that “there is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks.”
Stacey Abrams argued that it was a manufactured sound.
Radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier told Fox News: “This was a flat-out lie. Unfortunately, people are going to believe what she has to say.”
Christian Headlines reports several US states have banned abortions once a heartbeat is detected.
Planned Parenthood has also changed its official wording on ectopic pregnancies.
According to Faithwire its website used to say:
“Treating an ectopic pregnancy isn’t the same thing as getting an abortion. Ectopic pregnancies are unsafely outside of your uterus (usually in the fallopian tubes), and are removed with a medicine called methotrexate or through a laparoscopic surgical procedure.”
Faithwire says that language has been changed and no longer overtly addresses any link to abortion.
There is merely a line now that reads, “The medical procedures for terminating a pregnancy in the uterus are usually different from the medical procedures for terminating an ectopic pregnancy.”
The change follows testimony to a Congressional committee by Dr. Christina Francis, CEO-elect of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
She rebutted false claims that state pro-life laws are preventing doctors from treating ectopic pregnancies because of fears of potential civil and criminal penalties.
The Heritage Foundation reports “No state calls ending such a pregnancy an abortion. All have strong pro-life protections in place and all allow doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies.”
