Fox News Doctor Rips ‘Outrageous’ Stacey Abrams Comments on Fetal Heartbeat — Then Agrees ‘There’s No Heart There’

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel condemned Stacey Abrams’s recent controversial comments on fetal heartbeats, but backed up one of her claims.

Anchor Dana Perino played Siegel the clip of Abrams speaking at an event in Atlanta, in which the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia said, “There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks.”

“It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body,” Abrams added in the clip which has sparked condemnation and anger on the right.

“We reached out for comment. Her campaign said that Stacey Abrams has already stated her support for limits in line with Roe and Casey. Those of course, those famous lawsuits and doctors have been clear that the so-called heartbeat law is not medically accurate,” Perino reported.

“Doctor, over to you. I think, is a heartbeat able to, can you hear a heartbeat at six weeks into pregnancy?” Perino asked.

“First for first of all, before I answer that, her comments are outrageous. You know, the fetal ultrasound was invented in 1958 by Dr. Ian Donald in Scotland, an obstetrician who said women may see in vitro, they may see a forming fetus and decide not to have an abortion. What’s wrong with that if they decide that?” Siegel replied, appearing to back up a part of Abrams’s claim.

“Also, the great medical advances of fetal ultrasound have saved so many lives, it’s led to being able to operate in vitro, in vitro. It’s in utero. It’s allowed surgeons to go in there and operate. It’s such a lifesaving thing. It’s so ridiculous that she said that,” the doctor added, noting the medical advance has had other life-saving applications.

“Now, to your question about six weeks, Dana, I’ve got to tell you, you can see at six weeks that a fetus is forming. There’s no heart there. There’s no valves,” he explained, adding:

But you are seeing a fluttering a flickering of electrical activity. That’s the beginning of the heart. So you could debate all day when an actual heart occurs.

But that is the beginning of flickering, of fluttering, of life there where the heart is going to be. So I’m also very disturbed about the idea that this whole discussion and this isn’t what you asked focuses on either one way or the other.

You know, in France, abortions are legal up to 14 weeks here. It’s absolutely absurd the way this has deteriorated and there’s no room for debate in the United States here.

“Well, and it’s interesting what you say about, you know, the sonogram, right? If you go and a lot of people today have grown up watching their siblings on the refrigerator at the different pictures of the stage of pregnancy because they were able to have a sonogram and get the picture and get excited about this baby that’s going to join the family,” jumped in Perino.

“We could debate it. Absolutely. But we do not have enough time to talk about all that,” she concluded.

“Absolutely, it’s a sign of life. Dana, I agree with you,” Siegel concluded.

Abrams’s comments have been featured prominently on Fox News in the past 24 hours with host Will Cain on Thursday calling them, “QAnon-plus level of conspiracy.” While Siegel vehemently disagreed with the intent of Abrams’s remarks he did substantiate some of the facts surrounding her claims and argue there is room for debate.

Additionally, NPR noted in a recent article about the fetal heartbeat that the sound the ultrasound machine makes is indeed “actually manufactured by the ultrasound machine” at six weeks of gestation.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News

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