Wednesday, March 06, 2013

The Arkansas Legislature has not basis for the abortion restriction.

The only basis for the Arkansas legislative agenda is religious bigotry. There is no scientific proof to support the law. It is just that simple.

A heartbeat is not a reaction to stimuli. The heart at any stage of development has it's own nervous system. 

The legal definition of LIFE at any stage of human life is when the fetus can feel and react to pain. That does not happen until 22 weeks old. Previous to that it is not a human being. A human being has a connected nervous system that has a body which reacts to stimuli.

A heartbeat is automatic and innate to the heart tissue. There is nothing needed for a heart to beat or not to beat. There  is no reaction by the nervous system to begin the heartbeat. The heart TISSUE has innate capacity to beat with it's own self contained nervous system.

There are two nodes of nervous tissue within the heart that results in a heart beat. The nervous tissue involved is considered the autonomic nervous system.

Child's Play

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) (click here) regulates the functions of our internal organs (the viscera) such as the heart, stomach and intestines.

To say a heartbeat is where life begins is like saying when the stomach grumbles it is the beginning of life. It is nonsense. There is no thought processes involved.

The Autonomic Nervous System is the most crude form of nervous tissue in the body. 

For simplicity purposes:


There are two nodes in the heart. The SA Node and the AV Node. 

The SA (Sino-Atrial) Node is correctly spelled, sinoatrial. It is the pacemaker of the heart. It works no matter what. There are conditions of the heart whereby the SA Node does not work well, but, that is disease and not health.

The entire heart conduction system provides IMPULSES that comprise the EKG (electrocardiogram). EKG can also be named ECG. But, the word is the same; electrocardiogram. 

So, the pacemaker of the heart begins the heart beat. The SA Node emits an electrical impulse that travels along the other nerve fibers and a heart beat is recorded. The EKG above shows the particular nervous system of the heat and how that is translated into a heart beat. Every nerve is recorded in a particular sequence otherwise the heart would FLUTTER and not produce blood pressure. Blood Pressure (BP) is primarily produced by the left ventricle, but, the entire heart is important to blood pressure.

There is nothing definitive about a heartbeat in recognizing an impulse from the brain. There is NO connection to the brain by any autonomic nervous system of the body or otherwise until the fetus is 22 weeks in development. So, the idea this is a definition of life is hideous. It diminishes the definition of life to a blob of neural tissue that has no function to quality of life.

This is truly religious bigotry. The legislatures of the Red States are trying One-Upmanship in finding a way to prohibit women to be self-directing in their own lives. This is crazy. There is no other word for it. 

If this continues and there is no definition that life demands a purpose with a brain, then literally human heart tissue grown in a petri dish can be considered a life. This is nonsense and complete stupidity.

There is a chance human beings can grown another heart for transplant in the future, does anyone realize what a nightmare this mess would be if our society ever allowed this stupidity to exist?

Whomever the physician involved in this should have his or her license pulled. Can you imagine what they are saying to their clients?