Some Anti-Abortion Folks Were Not Ready To See That A Pregnancy At 6 Weeks Doesn’t Have A Growing Embryo And Is Only Bodily Tissue
After the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, which guaranteed a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, states were left to decide on their own to decide the legality of abortions. Some states made abortions illegal immediately, others prohibited it after a few weeks, and there are some states in which you can still get the procedure done legally.
However, it raises the question of whether the pro-life advocates know what they are protecting. They claim it’s a life, a child, a person. But people are discovering that at the beginning of the pregnancy there is no hint of a person but actually just some tissue in preparation for it.
TikTok user and abortion rights activist Jessica Valenti found photos done by MYA Network that show what is removed when a woman gets an abortion done before the 10th week of their pregnancy and wanted to spread the word about how this bodily tissue has more rights than a whole person.
More info: TikTok | MYA Network
Woman who advocates for abortions revealed what an early pregnancy looks like and it’s far from the picture most of us have in mind
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
Jessica Valenti is a writer who has been exploring women and politics for over 15 years. She has published 7 books, has written for The Guardian, The New York Times and has given speeches or taught classes about the topics that interest her.
She has an Instagram account Abortion, Every Day on which she posts new information about any events related to women’s reproductive rights. She also is active on TikTok and in one of her recent videos, Jessica brought our attention to photos released by MYA Network showing how a pregnancy at 6 and 9 weeks looks.
The MYA Network is a “network of clinicians, activists and patients who want to normalize abortion care, medically and culturally” that was created during the pandemic and now is helping people who want to terminate their pregnancy at the early stages.
They recently launched a project called The Issue of Tissue educating people on what is actually removed when a person gets an abortion up until week 10 of their pregnancy. The co-founder of the MYA Network, Dr Joan Fleischman, explains it in a video.
The photos she showed were from the MYA Network who launched a project called The Issue Of Tissue
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
“When a sperm and egg get together, the body creates tissue in order to support the developing pregnancy.” About a week after a woman misses her period, the uterus creates a little bubble of fluid, which is called the gestational sac. The gestational sac is described as “the ‘house’ for the pregnancy” on the MYA Network page. They explain further that “Inside this sac there are cells that have the potential to become a fetus but there is no visible embryo at this stage.”
Dr Joan Fleischman then proceeds to show photos of what early pregnancy looks like. Turns out, at 5 weeks, the gestational sac is about 5 millimeters in size and it gets bigger by 1 millimeter every day. And in none of these stages between 5 and 9 weeks is an embryo visible.
Turns out, during the first 9 weeks, there is no visible embryo and what people see when they get an abortion or experience a miscarriage is tissue
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
In the frequently asked questions section, it is explained that when a woman gets an abortion or experiences a miscarriage, the tissue doesn’t look like what is shown in the photos because “We rinsed off the blood and removed the menstrual lining (decidua) in preparation for these photos. What you see here is the gestational sac alone. If you are taking abortion pills at home or having a miscarriage, what you see will look different. Most people will experience a heavy period which may include blood clots of varying sizes, so it can be difficult to see the pregnancy tissue unless you purposefully look for it. If you are over 9 weeks pregnant and choose to look, you may see an early embryo.”
This tissue is called a gestational sac and it prepares to grow an embryo in it in later pregnancy stages
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
The project touches on the heartbeat myth as well because some states have proposed banning abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, as it is allegedly when the future baby starts to have a heartbeat. This is medically inaccurate as at 6 weeks, there is no heart. There are cells that will form it, but what actually “beats” are electrical impulses.
Dr. Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Washington Medicine, says that you could call it “cardiac activity” and Dr. Ian Fraser Golding, a pediatric and fetal cardiologist at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, explains that what you hear on the ultrasound machine are electric impulses.
It doesn’t resemble a mini baby at all and if anything, it resembles mold or a cotton ball
Image credits: auntiekilljoy
Image credits: MYA Network
The clinicians at MYA Network believe that safe abortion is essential medical care and it is safer than carrying a pregnancy to term. The only thing that makes it unsafe is limits to access.
Dr Joan Fleischman told The Guardian, “Abortion is medical care. Every single person who makes this decision is complex. But this information, showing tissue in the first 10 weeks, is literally absent from our common understanding of what is going on, and people deserve accurate information.”
Because it seems that people don’t have it. The doctor shared what made her put these pictures out in public: “I was motivated by my patients to create this project. Sometimes they’ve chosen to look at their own pregnancy tissue in my office. When they have, they felt relieved, surprised or even tricked by the fact that it doesn’t resemble anything they’ve seen on the internet. By seeing their reactions I realized that it was important to make these images available publicly. I believe they speak for themselves.”
Jessica pointed out in her video that this piece of tissue is what has more human rights than a woman carrying it in most places in the US
Image credits: MYA Network
Image credits: MYA Network
Dr Joan Fleischman provided us with information and the science and Jessica Valenti made her conclusions. She realized that a piece of bodily tissue has more rights to live than an already alive person just because it has the potential to be one.
That bodily tissue is more important than what the pregnant person feels, how it will affect their life or their mental and physical health. The potential of a life that looks like a cotton ball is what is so passionately defended by various politicians and people who say that they value life.
And actually, most abortions do happen before the 10th week of the pregnancy, “Over four in ten (43%) abortions occur by six weeks of gestation, just over a third (36%) are between seven and nine weeks, and 13% at 10-13 weeks. Just 7% of abortions occur after the first trimester.”
And about 80 percent of abortions occur exactly in this time of just tissue forming and an embryo just having its beginnings
Image credits: MYA Network
You can watch Jessica’s explanation in the video below
@auntiekilljoy #greenscreen they need to show these images at every political debate about abortion #feminism #abortion #fyp ♬ original sound – Jessica Valenti
People in Jessica’s comments were mostly surprised to find out what abortion at that stage looks like, but some of them pointed out inaccuracies. They thought that it was important to note that there is actually an embryo in those early stages, however, it is not visible and it’s not until the 10th week when the embryo is considered a fetus, which is when “All the major organ systems have formed, but are immature. From this point on, the fetus will primarily be growing and tissues will be maturing.”
Some people shared that when they had a miscarriage or an abortion at 9 or 10 weeks, they could see an embryo, while others confirmed that there was nothing more than tissue and blood clots. However, most of them agreed that even if there is a visible fetus, people must have the right to decide if they want to put their bodies through what pregnancy can do to them, if they are capable of raising a person, if they want a new life they are responsible for bringing into this world.
Some people in the comments were relieved to know this information while others found it hard to believe as it contradicted their experiences
The people who advocate for banning abortion are the same people who don't care about single mothers, children facing abuse, children in orphanages, victims of school shooting. They don't care about saving children or something of the sort, all they want is to control women bodies and restrict their choices. Next they will ban women from driving, endanger LGBTQ rights, make the life of half the population a living hell. I genuinely feel sorry for women facing this.
this is what happens when a large portion of the population let their ethical beliefs be governed by an imaginary sky daddy, or the church leaders who speak on his behalf
Load More Replies...I have a medical degree (MD). This is deceptive at best. Embryonic tissue cultured in a lab is NOT the same as it will be in utero. That said, it's still a blob of tissue, and can be biologically classified as a parasite until about 24 weeks, since that's when it might safely survive on its own. Abortion is a natural process (spontaneous abortion, medical term) or induced for reason (induced abortion, due to fill-in-someone's-reason). Just Leave Women's Bodies To The Women (and their doctors).
I was looking for this. I doubt growing embryonic tissue in vitro is comparable to in vivo as the entire 3D scaffold is missing.
Load More Replies...I don't think that it's important how "human-like" an embryo looks. The question if a woman wants to have an abortion should be centered about the aspect: does she want to be a mother or not?
The question of "does she want to be a mother or not" is an extremely small question in the grand scheme of things. A lot of times, women who do get abortions do want to be mother's. It should be will this baby kill her, was this baby conceived by force, does the mother/father have genetic markers that could cause harm to the baby, is the mother/father financially/mentally stable to provide for a child? I had to have an abortion with my first pregnancy, and I very much wanted to be a mother at that time. That is the issue with prolife, it is all black and white with that group and it is not.
Load More Replies...I absolutely don't care what it looks like to be honest. A pregnant woman still should have the right to decide if she's going to provide this embryo with the resources of her body or not.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Casey, that's exactly it. That's what It all comes down to. It makes me beyond furious that some people believe they have the right to control what other people do. MY body, MY choice. Your religion does not get to dictate my personal medical decisions. It's as simple as that.
Load More Replies...Also there are times when the body is tricked into thinking it's pregnant and isn't. Yeah you can have sex and pass a test as a pos but not be pregnant. Phantom pregnancy. Your body will create the tissue as if it is for a fetus. But it's isn't. And "losing" thst can be traumatic but it's not a embryo. And some gestations can zip Faster in diff stages too.
Just today in Finland our government passed a law according to which a woman is granted an abortion, if she chooses to have one, up to 12 weeks, no questions asked. (before she needed an affirmative statement from two separate doctors.) After 12 weeks an abortion can be granted for medical reasons. Also, the abortion is free. This is truly her body, her choice.
Wow. This really is food for thought. I'm not opposed to abortion (unless some silly sod treats it like a form of contraception). But this completely undermines any arguments that, "it's a person", "it has a soul", "it experiences pain", "you're murdering an unborn child". I've seen patients with more complex leg ulcers than this. It really isn't much of anything...
I've never had an abortion personally, but just a routine visit to an obgyn is very invasive. I can't imagine someone taking that route as a form of contraception when it's more expensive, physically impactful, and riskier than an IUD or pill. I just cannot believe people who genuinely think people are out there getting abortions because "convenience".
Load More Replies...I am totally pro-choice, but this is not how an embryo normally looks. My husband is a pathologist, he sees embryos in various states regularly and also agrees that you normally do see it as a distinct shape.
it does have a distinct shape, it's just a lot smaller than people think and is hidden in the debris in the images.
Load More Replies...I have seen many many abortions. I would substract 2-3 weeks from these examples to match what I've seen. At 9 weeks there are definitely tiny limbs and a head recognisable.
welp be ready for the political comments 😭... Anyways I found this interesting since I've never actually seen it explained, the way people say how you're killing a baby with an abortion I've always pictured it as a full grown but mini baby. I'm sure everyone experiences pregnancy at different rates which is why people were saying they could see like arms and legs on ultrasounds, or maybe they really were further along than they thought?
I've been waiting decades for these photos to come out! The horrible propaganda photos those anti-choice groups use are usually of miscarriages, not abortions.
My cousin had a miscarriage fairly early on yet it was definitely more than a clump of cells and you could visibly tell that this would have obviously become a human being. I had to clean it up, she just left it on the floor and went to bed, showing no regard for the kids she already had. She was a coke addict at that time so probably for the best.
A clump of nothing has absolutely zero superiority to you. Pregnancies are risky for many people with a uterus and I totally agree with that video. Politicians and others who say that abortion is terrible and you're murdering someone is wrong. It's a big clump of nothing and isn't worth your life.
There are over 930,000 abortion is the USA per year now. 15% is 140,000. Abortions in some states are legal up until the moment of birth - until the baby is out, it's OK to terminate it. How many viable babies are being murdered and yet it's all 'my body, my choice' and anyone who says different is a monster.
Nobody carries an unwanted baby for 9 months and *then* decides to abort. Abortions after 20 weeks are either because the foetus isn't viable, or because of risk to the mental or physical health of the mother.
Load More Replies...This information isn't accurate at all! An embryo or baby to use the less scientific and more personal name can be seen- I had a 7 week scan, and whilst still looking like a peanut, you could make out the form of a baby, and no there wasn't clear, arms, legs hand and feet, but there was a form which resembled more than a cloud like mass. Also, a miscarriage which happens in early pregnancy means that the pregnancy hormones would have begun to decrease and like all organic matter would begin to decompose- hence the clotted appearance.
the one claiming that their 7 week scan showed hands and everything - that wasn't a 7 week scan. she was further along than she thought
I read somewhere that the real reason they passed anti abortion laws is because the majority of women that have abortions are white. Like 60% and that they are afraid the white race is dipping. I don’t know if thats true but I wouldn’t be surprised..
This is wrong information. What she is showing is the placenta side not the embrio and fetus sinde. At eight weeks a fetus has all its organs formed and it looks like a tiny human. I am personally pro choice but this is unaceptable and outright misleading. Some pregnancies are anembrionic that is true but and it leads to spontaneous abortions. In a normal or healthy pregnancie there is an embryo and after 8 weeks it becomes a fetus.
There is an embryo in the images it's just much much smaller than cgi medical images lead people to believe. While there is differentiation of tissue (a precursor to organ formation) the organs in an eight week old embryo are neither fully functional nor easily identifiable by the naked eye. It also looks kind of like a tadpole imo, if you grew it to the size of a normal human people would freak out.
Load More Replies...I am all pro choice. But you have heartbeat at 6 weeks, can't see anything about that on these pictures.
Perhaps the undiscernable blobs were inviable pregnancies and because of that they miscarry into a mishapen bunch of tissue. When I was nine weeks along, the ultrasound showed a very obvious shrimpsized foetus with limbs, head, heartbeat etc
My daughter had a heart beat of 180bpm at her 6 week scan so there's more to it than just tissue.
At 9 weeks, my wife had an ultrasound. The baby was clearly visible, and to my surprise, bouncing around.
EDIT: Although I listed a Gov. website, Fen Wolf informed me/us about its source and purpose. I think the description is accurate, but the Drawing is idealized. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/adult-child-serv/informedconsent/michigans-informed-consent-for-abortion-law/procedures/fetaldevelopment/fetal-development-week-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part of the description for 6-weeks of development is as follows:, "The embryo is about the size of a blueberry or 3/8 – 1/2 inch (0.38-0.5 inches) long".
Written by male Republicans who were anti-abortion (hence why you have to read that in order to have an abortion). There's no images either, it's a drawing not a picture.
Load More Replies...Sorry, but a quick image search of a 10 week embryo looks a lot different than the pictures in this thread.
Did one. Did you sear ch for ultrasound, or the cutesy illustrations on Mommy-to-be sites? I have an MD. there's a big difference.
Load More Replies...I lost a pregnancy at 10 weeks. In my 2nd pregnancy I was internally scanned and there was a heartbeat. At 9 weeks scanned again, internally, and there was a heartbeat and a fetus which I have the photo of. Not against abortion at all and all for rights of women but this was my experience of early pregnancy.
That’s plainly false and it’s easy to do a quick search to see that she is plainly lying
It doesn't have a heart at 6 weeks. It's electrical activity.
Load More Replies...The people who advocate for banning abortion are the same people who don't care about single mothers, children facing abuse, children in orphanages, victims of school shooting. They don't care about saving children or something of the sort, all they want is to control women bodies and restrict their choices. Next they will ban women from driving, endanger LGBTQ rights, make the life of half the population a living hell. I genuinely feel sorry for women facing this.
this is what happens when a large portion of the population let their ethical beliefs be governed by an imaginary sky daddy, or the church leaders who speak on his behalf
Load More Replies...I have a medical degree (MD). This is deceptive at best. Embryonic tissue cultured in a lab is NOT the same as it will be in utero. That said, it's still a blob of tissue, and can be biologically classified as a parasite until about 24 weeks, since that's when it might safely survive on its own. Abortion is a natural process (spontaneous abortion, medical term) or induced for reason (induced abortion, due to fill-in-someone's-reason). Just Leave Women's Bodies To The Women (and their doctors).
I was looking for this. I doubt growing embryonic tissue in vitro is comparable to in vivo as the entire 3D scaffold is missing.
Load More Replies...I don't think that it's important how "human-like" an embryo looks. The question if a woman wants to have an abortion should be centered about the aspect: does she want to be a mother or not?
The question of "does she want to be a mother or not" is an extremely small question in the grand scheme of things. A lot of times, women who do get abortions do want to be mother's. It should be will this baby kill her, was this baby conceived by force, does the mother/father have genetic markers that could cause harm to the baby, is the mother/father financially/mentally stable to provide for a child? I had to have an abortion with my first pregnancy, and I very much wanted to be a mother at that time. That is the issue with prolife, it is all black and white with that group and it is not.
Load More Replies...I absolutely don't care what it looks like to be honest. A pregnant woman still should have the right to decide if she's going to provide this embryo with the resources of her body or not.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Casey, that's exactly it. That's what It all comes down to. It makes me beyond furious that some people believe they have the right to control what other people do. MY body, MY choice. Your religion does not get to dictate my personal medical decisions. It's as simple as that.
Load More Replies...Also there are times when the body is tricked into thinking it's pregnant and isn't. Yeah you can have sex and pass a test as a pos but not be pregnant. Phantom pregnancy. Your body will create the tissue as if it is for a fetus. But it's isn't. And "losing" thst can be traumatic but it's not a embryo. And some gestations can zip Faster in diff stages too.
Just today in Finland our government passed a law according to which a woman is granted an abortion, if she chooses to have one, up to 12 weeks, no questions asked. (before she needed an affirmative statement from two separate doctors.) After 12 weeks an abortion can be granted for medical reasons. Also, the abortion is free. This is truly her body, her choice.
Wow. This really is food for thought. I'm not opposed to abortion (unless some silly sod treats it like a form of contraception). But this completely undermines any arguments that, "it's a person", "it has a soul", "it experiences pain", "you're murdering an unborn child". I've seen patients with more complex leg ulcers than this. It really isn't much of anything...
I've never had an abortion personally, but just a routine visit to an obgyn is very invasive. I can't imagine someone taking that route as a form of contraception when it's more expensive, physically impactful, and riskier than an IUD or pill. I just cannot believe people who genuinely think people are out there getting abortions because "convenience".
Load More Replies...I am totally pro-choice, but this is not how an embryo normally looks. My husband is a pathologist, he sees embryos in various states regularly and also agrees that you normally do see it as a distinct shape.
it does have a distinct shape, it's just a lot smaller than people think and is hidden in the debris in the images.
Load More Replies...I have seen many many abortions. I would substract 2-3 weeks from these examples to match what I've seen. At 9 weeks there are definitely tiny limbs and a head recognisable.
welp be ready for the political comments 😭... Anyways I found this interesting since I've never actually seen it explained, the way people say how you're killing a baby with an abortion I've always pictured it as a full grown but mini baby. I'm sure everyone experiences pregnancy at different rates which is why people were saying they could see like arms and legs on ultrasounds, or maybe they really were further along than they thought?
I've been waiting decades for these photos to come out! The horrible propaganda photos those anti-choice groups use are usually of miscarriages, not abortions.
My cousin had a miscarriage fairly early on yet it was definitely more than a clump of cells and you could visibly tell that this would have obviously become a human being. I had to clean it up, she just left it on the floor and went to bed, showing no regard for the kids she already had. She was a coke addict at that time so probably for the best.
A clump of nothing has absolutely zero superiority to you. Pregnancies are risky for many people with a uterus and I totally agree with that video. Politicians and others who say that abortion is terrible and you're murdering someone is wrong. It's a big clump of nothing and isn't worth your life.
There are over 930,000 abortion is the USA per year now. 15% is 140,000. Abortions in some states are legal up until the moment of birth - until the baby is out, it's OK to terminate it. How many viable babies are being murdered and yet it's all 'my body, my choice' and anyone who says different is a monster.
Nobody carries an unwanted baby for 9 months and *then* decides to abort. Abortions after 20 weeks are either because the foetus isn't viable, or because of risk to the mental or physical health of the mother.
Load More Replies...This information isn't accurate at all! An embryo or baby to use the less scientific and more personal name can be seen- I had a 7 week scan, and whilst still looking like a peanut, you could make out the form of a baby, and no there wasn't clear, arms, legs hand and feet, but there was a form which resembled more than a cloud like mass. Also, a miscarriage which happens in early pregnancy means that the pregnancy hormones would have begun to decrease and like all organic matter would begin to decompose- hence the clotted appearance.
the one claiming that their 7 week scan showed hands and everything - that wasn't a 7 week scan. she was further along than she thought
I read somewhere that the real reason they passed anti abortion laws is because the majority of women that have abortions are white. Like 60% and that they are afraid the white race is dipping. I don’t know if thats true but I wouldn’t be surprised..
This is wrong information. What she is showing is the placenta side not the embrio and fetus sinde. At eight weeks a fetus has all its organs formed and it looks like a tiny human. I am personally pro choice but this is unaceptable and outright misleading. Some pregnancies are anembrionic that is true but and it leads to spontaneous abortions. In a normal or healthy pregnancie there is an embryo and after 8 weeks it becomes a fetus.
There is an embryo in the images it's just much much smaller than cgi medical images lead people to believe. While there is differentiation of tissue (a precursor to organ formation) the organs in an eight week old embryo are neither fully functional nor easily identifiable by the naked eye. It also looks kind of like a tadpole imo, if you grew it to the size of a normal human people would freak out.
Load More Replies...I am all pro choice. But you have heartbeat at 6 weeks, can't see anything about that on these pictures.
Perhaps the undiscernable blobs were inviable pregnancies and because of that they miscarry into a mishapen bunch of tissue. When I was nine weeks along, the ultrasound showed a very obvious shrimpsized foetus with limbs, head, heartbeat etc
My daughter had a heart beat of 180bpm at her 6 week scan so there's more to it than just tissue.
At 9 weeks, my wife had an ultrasound. The baby was clearly visible, and to my surprise, bouncing around.
EDIT: Although I listed a Gov. website, Fen Wolf informed me/us about its source and purpose. I think the description is accurate, but the Drawing is idealized. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/adult-child-serv/informedconsent/michigans-informed-consent-for-abortion-law/procedures/fetaldevelopment/fetal-development-week-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part of the description for 6-weeks of development is as follows:, "The embryo is about the size of a blueberry or 3/8 – 1/2 inch (0.38-0.5 inches) long".
Written by male Republicans who were anti-abortion (hence why you have to read that in order to have an abortion). There's no images either, it's a drawing not a picture.
Load More Replies...Sorry, but a quick image search of a 10 week embryo looks a lot different than the pictures in this thread.
Did one. Did you sear ch for ultrasound, or the cutesy illustrations on Mommy-to-be sites? I have an MD. there's a big difference.
Load More Replies...I lost a pregnancy at 10 weeks. In my 2nd pregnancy I was internally scanned and there was a heartbeat. At 9 weeks scanned again, internally, and there was a heartbeat and a fetus which I have the photo of. Not against abortion at all and all for rights of women but this was my experience of early pregnancy.
That’s plainly false and it’s easy to do a quick search to see that she is plainly lying
It doesn't have a heart at 6 weeks. It's electrical activity.
Load More Replies...
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