Blog / What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a Fetal Heartbeat Can Be Deceptive

/ Kirsten Giesbrecht /

Early embryonic hearts are the first functioning organ in embryos, playing a critical role in development, but don’t resemble the mature four-chambered organ we might imagine. Some anti-abortion legislation hinges on the term ‘fetal heartbeat’ to describe early cardiac activity when neither a fetus nor a chambered heart exist.

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