I live in Nebraska where every so often as I travel down the rural highways, there are homemade-looking signs about saving a baby’s life, but nothing about saving a mother’s life.
Some of those signs also depict a full-grown baby rolling around in a mother’s stomach, sucking its thumb, laughing, and playing with toys, the second after conception.
But it works. These types of images along with conservative groups would have you think that, that there’s a fully grown human ready to get out and enjoy the world the moment it’s conceived.
So here’s what pregnancy before 10 weeks actually looks like. Tissue from a 6-week pregnancy (left) and a 9-week pregnancy (right):
The Guardian highlights what pregnancy before 10 weeks actually looks like. They got these images from the MYA Network, an organization that is trying to counter misinformation about earlier abortions—especially as states ban abortion as early as 6 weeks.
Most abortions happen before the 10th week of pregnancy (about 85%). The pictures above show what is being removed from a uterus at 6 and 9 weeks: Not a baby, not even a fetus yet—but tissue, a gestational sac, and not even a visible embryo.
This is really important to share widely. These images should be projected on a screen every time a politician speaks about abortion. In 14 states, those politicians are saying just that, these bits of tissue have more rights than you do.
I’ll end with a story out of Missouri (reference provided if requested).
While campaigning door to door, a politician had a conversation about abortion where the person who answered the door did NOT believe in abortion, no exceptions. When asked if a pregnancy had the potential to end their daughter’s life for whatever reason and maybe save what they believe is a baby, their reply was, “If it’s God’s will.” Sit with that today.
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