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
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
