Anti-Abortion Publicity Stunt Fails

Now that the GOP has taken over some statehouses they are pursuing their top priorities: jobs (hahahaha just kidding) breaking unions and punishing women. All the union demonstrations have really brought home the anti-worker agenda so the anti-woman agenda isn’t getting as much attention. However, this story out of Ohio got some attention:

Two fetuses will be presented as witnesses before an Ohio legislative committee that is hearing a bill to outlaw abortions after the first heartbeat can be detected inside a woman’s womb.

The fetuses will appear live and in color before the committee on a video screen projecting ultrasound images taken from their pregnant mothers’ bodies. Janet Folger Porter, head of Faith2Action, an anti-abortion group, said the fetuses will be the youngest witnesses to ever testify when they come in front of the House Health and Aging Committee Wednesday morning.

It’s a new publicity stunt – bring in the incubators pregnant woman and do an ultrasound right there in the chamber. Because we know that a lot of anti-abortion activists act as though women are stupid children who apparently are too dumb to make decisions for themselves. If they could just see the darling little embryo they’ll change their minds and decide to continue the pregnancy.

Their stunt failed, however:

The fetal test has come and gone with a quiet flop. They didn’t actually have a 5-week pregnant woman to test, and it failed to work for a 9 week fetus.

Two young mothers were given ultrasounds in a packed room at the Statehouse as part of a House committee meeting Wednesday. The heartbeat of a fetus at 15 weeks gestation was easily detected. The heartbeat in a fetus of nine weeks gestation was difficult to detect.

Add the obligatory Nelson from the Simpsons HA! here. Anyway, when did “heartbeat” become the test for anti-choice activists? I’m pretty sure my cat has a heartbeat. Is she human? This leads me to a few questions: