Progressive Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams is facing fierce backlash after a clip surfaced of her declaring that there is “no such thing” as a fetal heartbeat at six weeks — insisting that is just “manufactured sound” designed to control women’s bodies.
“There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks,” the Peach State gubernatorial candidate said at an event 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.”
Abrams’ jaw-dropping remarks were shared on Twitter by the Republican National Committee late Wednesday — and the reaction against her was swift.
“Hearing my babies heartbeats at 6 weeks is hands down one of the most exciting, liberating and most beautiful moments of my entire life. Hands down,” Meghan McCain tweeted.
“Stacey Abrams is a very sick person to say this and somehow accuse doctors of faking fetal heartbeats. Full stop,” the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain seethed.
Dr. Kelli Ward, chairwoman of the Arizona GOP, also chimed in, saying: “This woman not only again proves she is a total idiot or a liar (or both), but also shows how gullible her supporters are.”
Sports commentator Michele Tafoya also tweeted: “So, @staceyabrams … When my (male) doctors told me they could no longer hear my baby’s heartbeat… as I lost pregnancy after pregnancy… Was that fake, too? Did they manufacture the absence of my baby’s heartbeat in order to force me to terminate the pregnancy?”
A spokesman for Abrams’ campaign said she supports the guidelines established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which justices found a fetus was viable at about 23 weeks.
“Stacey Abrams has already stated her support for limits in line with Roe and Casey — and doctors have been clear that the so-called ‘heartbeat law’ is not medically accurate,” Alex Floyd said in a statement to The Post.
A fetal heartbeat can be detected by a vaginal ultrasound at between 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 weeks, when the fetal pole can be seen, according to the American Pregnancy Association.
The fetal pole is the first visible sign of a developing embryo.
“The fetal pole may be seen at a crown-rump length (CRL) of 2-4mm, and the heartbeat may be seen as a regular flutter when the CRL has reached 5mm,” the organization explains.
At 6 to 7 weeks, the baby’s heart “continues to grow and now beats at a regular rhythm,” Mount Sinai also explains. “This can be seen by vaginal ultrasound.”
During an interview on ABC’s “The View” last week, Abrams responded to GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposal to create a national standard outlawing abortion after 15 weeks, saying she supports the procedure until “the time of birth.”
“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.”
“For example, a six-week ban tells women they have to make reproductive choices before they know they’re pregnant. And that arbitrariness extends into these artificial timelines,” said Abrams, who is polling behind incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.
The Democrat narrowly lost to Kemp in 2018.
In 2019, Kemp signed off on legislation banning abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy — which then became law after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Abrams hasn’t directly addressed what she would do with the law if elected, but she told CNN in an interview that protecting abortion rights is a primary concern.
“Women deserve full citizenship in the United States and certainly in the state of Georgia, and they are being denied that because of Brian Kemp’s 6-week ban,” she said.
Abrams said she’s heard from health care providers as she travels the state campaigning.
“We are driving not only doctors and nurses out of the state, we’re likely going to drive jobs away. And that should be terrifying to anyone regardless of your political persuasion,” she said.
