Photos show no embryo visible until 9 weeks pregnant

To try to combat misinformation related to abortion, a group of health professionals and reproductive rights activists in the United States decided to release real images of the development of tissues inside the uterus during the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The photos reveal that, until this stage, there is no visible embryo or anything that looks like a fetus.

Those responsible for the initiative draw attention to the fact that many of the images of gestational evolution in circulation were produced by groups opposed to the interruption of pregnancy.

One of the founders of the MYA Network, the network responsible for disseminating the content, the doctor Joan Fleischman says that many of her patients are surprised to see, in the office, the true appearance of the material that was collected in the abortion.

“I was motivated by my patients to create this project. Sometimes they chose to see their pregnancy tissues in my office. They were relieved, surprised and even deceived by the fact that [o material] doesn’t look like anything they’ve seen on the internet,” says the family medicine specialist, in a video on the campaign’s website.

“Seeing the reaction they had, I realized it was important to make these images publicly available. I believe the images speak for themselves,” adds Fleischman, who has worked with abortions for 25 years.

The content presented by the group was withdrawn in interruptions of pregnancies in early stages. Professionals use a manual suction device, which can recover the delicate tissues. The procedure takes approximately five minutes in the office.

Before being displayed in Petri dishes, the material collected was “rinsed off” and had traces of blood and menstrual lining removed. The photos show the so-called gestational sac, which is the precursor of the amniotic sac, and the decidua, a gestational tissue.

At a five-week gestation, the tissue collected was five millimeters. Specialists detail that the gestational sac grows, on average, about one millimeter per day. In the image of the material collected in the ninth week of pregnancy, it is not possible to see the nascent embryo, although it may already be in the formation stage.

“We washed the blood and removed the menstrual lining in preparation for these photos. What you see in them is the gestational sac alone. Anyone who takes abortion pills at home or has a miscarriage will see something different. Most of these people will experience a menstrual flow. intense, which can include blood clots of varying sizes and so it can be difficult to see pregnancy tissue unless you purposefully look for it. If you are more than nine weeks pregnant and choose to look, you may see an early embryo “, describes the initiative.

Professionals also draw attention to the misinformation about the sounds that are produced in the early stages of pregnancy.

“There is no ‘heart’ at six weeks pregnant, but there are cells that will come together to form the heart, and those cells already ‘beat’. This is the movement that is seen on ultrasound and what people call a ‘heartbeat’ , but again there is still no heart formed”, details the project.

On the initiative’s website, it is also possible to hear real testimonials from people who have undergone pregnancy termination procedures and had the chance to see the tissues removed from the uterus. Most describe feelings of surprise and relief.

One of the patients reveals that she had religious conflicts with the termination of the pregnancy and says that having the opportunity to see the tissues was essential to overcome fear and guilt.

On the internet, the search for images of gestational development and abortions usually brings up images of fully developed fetuses and mutilated and bloody babies. Photos often without reference to source, gestational age or size scale, which are often produced and used in campaign material against voluntary termination of pregnancy.

On the other hand, real, well-documented photos of material collected from abortions in the early stages of pregnancy are much more difficult to find. In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, doctor Michele Gomez, who is also part of the MYA Network, assessed that there is still some resistance among certain professionals.

“I think some doctors are concerned about the reactions of patients. But it’s not really our right or our responsibility to decide how people will respond to this. We’re just putting out the information and the facts to fight misinformation. scary, dangerous or violent. It’s just an image of something that’s in your body.”