New Study: Human Heartbeat Detectable at 16 Days

A new British study says a human heartbeat may be detectable 16 days after a baby’s fertilization, based upon an analysis of fetal mice.

Published on October 11 and conducted by Oxford University, the study utilized high-resolution live imaging to examine fetal mice. In their summary, the authors note that “The heart is the first organ to form and to begin working in an embryo during pregnancy. It must begin pumping early to supply oxygen and nutrients to the developing embryo.”

Coordinated contractions of specialised muscle cells in the heart, called cardiomyocytes, generate the force needed to pump blood. The flow of calcium ions into and out of the cardiomyocytes triggers these heartbeats. In addition to triggering heart contractions, calcium ions also act as a messenger that drives changes in which genes are active in the cardiomyocytes and how these cells behave.

By manipulating the calcium ions, the study’s authors were able to discern more information for the study, which was intended to better understand birth defects of the heart. Pro-life advocates, however, are highlighting the study’s finding that heartbeats were detected in mice at 7.5 days after conception, which is equivalent to 16 days after conception for humans.

Mary Ellen Douglas of the Campaign Life Coalition of Canada told LifeSiteNews that “science is catching up with what we always have known, that life begins with union of the sperm and ovum and what is in the womb after that is a human being with its own DNA, and with its own heart pumping its own blood.”

“It won’t change the thinking of pro-abortion people,” she added. “None is so blind as those who will not see. But this reinforces the fact that there is a human being in the womb directing its own growth and development. And that’s true even before the heart starts beating, from conception.”

Sidewalk activist Lauren Handy used the new study as part of her protests and prayer in front of Planned Parenthood’s new Washington, D.C. headquarters. “This is very helpful for sidewalk counseling,” she said, “The humanity of the baby begins at conception, but it touches the mother to know when her baby’s heartbeat can be detected.”

Carol Tobias of U.S. National Right to Life said, according to LifeSiteNews, “This will make it much more difficult [for abortion advocates] to pass off the unborn child as a ‘blob of cells’ if the heart is already beating.”

A number of bills have been introduced in state legislatures to ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected. One measure that became law in North Dakota was knocked down last year. (For more from the author of “New Study: Human Heartbeat Detectable at 16 Days” please click HERE)

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