She knew that the images would cause a stir when she shared them on TikTok. Since the fall of Wade, Valenti has become a devoted abortion rights commentator, offering daily updates about the current state of abortion rights through her newsletter. Over the course of the project, Valenti has attracted her fair share of troll and angry commentary, but no one prepared her for the response to her TikTok on October 19th.
She was expecting the right-wingers to insist that if you look at the photos of the embryo, you would see a tiny person. She didn't expect how many people would insist that the photos she shared were fake, that they had been digitally altered to look less human, and that she was spreading misinformation that would hurt pro-choice groups.
The pictures were real. The images, showing small white blobs in petri dishes set against an aqua blue background, came directly from abortion providers There were actual pregnancies removed from abortion patients with a process called manual vacuum aspiration, which was explained on the website of the MYA Network. They had washed the blood in order to see the fetus. There hadn't been any alterations or manipulation. The law considered these little white blobs to be more valuable than a pregnant person's life.
The journalist who worked with the MYA Network at The Guardian had the same experience. She encountered editors who doubted the authenticity of the photos in the fact-checking process. How come it doesn't look like that online? It was described as a "gaslighting moment."
She said that people on all sides have been confused.
Trust in the experts was the winning factor for the team. I haven't done anything to it. I haven't made any changes. This is what an abortion looks like at a certain point in time.
People on all sides have been confused by the high levels of misinformation.
Most people don't have an abortion provider on hand to answer questions about early pregnancies. Many people won't ever experience an early abortion or an early miscarriage. Information about fetal development is not accessible to the general population. Many of the photos used by anti-abortion protesters depict fetus from the beginning of the fetus to the end of the fetus, in order to deter potential abortion patients. Information about early pregnancy is often designed with expectant parents in mind, so that they can bond with and humanize the cells that are rapidly dividing inside of them. Fetal development charts that don't depict the proportional size of an embryo can be used to exaggerate an early pregnancy's resemblance to a fully grown baby. When nothing resembling a heart has actually been built, there is a tendency to talk about a fetus heartbeat.
It's understandable that people who want children would be eager to see a tiny cluster of cells as Protohuman. When that perspective is foisted on people who don't want to be pregnant, one pregnant person's excitement is used to warp the information given to abortion seekers The existence of the images isn't the only way it is used to get people to do things.
These photos caused a lot of interest. Doctors decode blurry scans by pointing out the beginnings of heads, hands, and torsos, and we're trained to see future people in the earliest stages of fetal development. The images supplied by the MYA Network show an unvarnished picture of a clump of cells.
It can be upsetting to see the beginnings of human life presented in such a bare-bones fashion. These images bring relief to some. Many people took comfort from the photos and sent messages to both of them. These images have been helpful in some cases. They have been able to make sense of their own experiences thanks to seeing this imagery.
It will always be difficult to discuss abortion and pregnancies. In addition to the fact that questions like when does life begin are better left to philosophers than scientists, there's also the reality that a wanted pregnancy will always feel different from an unwanted one.
They have been able to make sense of their own experiences thanks to seeing this imagery.
Valenti has terminated both wanted and unwanted pregnancies and is familiar with the differences. I had an abortion when I was in my 20s, but it was not emotional for me. She says it was very easy to make. When my daughter was 3 years old, I had an abortion. There were health risks that led to the decision to end. She almost died when she was pregnant with her first child. She says, "I really did want to have another baby, and I really wanted my daughter to have a sibling."
She sympathized with those who saw a tiny human in that clump of cells. She doesn't care how early the pregnancy was or how visible the embryo was. I had a promise of a life that I wanted to fulfill. That was the reason why the abortion was hard for me.
The one thing that shouldn't be up for debate is what actually exists in the uterus in the early weeks of a pregnant woman's life. The tissue is small enough to fit in a petri dish. How can we have an honest discussion about abortion if we can't accept the fact that we are pregnant?
Bracey Sherman says that people think they know everything they need to know about abortion. That is the hardest thing.
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