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In her piece, Baker explained that “there is no fetus” at six weeks, meaning at that stage we have an embryo, not a fetus. To back her claim, she linked to this embryology textbook explaining embryonic versus fetal stages of pregnancy. What she appears to have missed, however, is that if you scroll down to the section “Development of the Embryo” it states:
The heart and major blood vessels begin to develop earlier — by about day 16. The heart begins to pump fluid through blood vessels by day 20, and the first red blood cells appear the next day.
In other words, Baker wrote a piece claiming it is “junk science” to say a 6 week LMP embryo has a heart or heartbeat. She cited obfuscating statements from interviews. But the only firsthand source she linked — the embryology textbook — directly contradicts her.
I came across her piece and this contradiction on September 21, 2021, at which point I tweeted about it.
Dear Reader,
Every day in America, more than 2,800 preborn babies lose their lives to abortion.
That number should break our hearts and move us to action.
Ending this tragedy requires daily commitment from people like you who refuse to stay silent.
Millions read Live Action News each month — imagine the impact if each of us took a stand for life 365 days a year.
Right now, we’re urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly donors) to join us before the end of October. And thanks to a generous $250,000 matching grant, your first monthly gift will be DOUBLED to help save lives and build a culture that protects the preborn.
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Together, we can end abortion and create a future where every child is cherished and every mother is supported.
I checked Twitter later to see if Baker had responded. She had. She blocked the SPL account and removed the link to the embryology textbook from her article. There was no note in the article explaining it had been edited. You can see the original piece linking to the embryology textbook by using the Wayback Machine: the link was there on 9/9, 9/11, and 9/14. As of this writing (9/22) it’s gone.
Baker is a professor at Smith College where she teaches courses on, among other things, feminist public writing. She also co-chairs the Ms. Committee of Scholars, which “encourages and trains scholars to write for the public.” Given the inaccuracies and miseducation of her original article and, more egregiously, the furtive way she removed a source that contradicted her conclusions, we can only hope Baker teaches higher standards than she practices.
Editor’s Note: This article was published at Secular Pro-Life and is reprinted here with permission.
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