A crucial test performed at many physicals is the echocardiagram, which detects irregularities in the heart. After all, you can work out daily and have low cholesterol counts, but if your heart suddenly stops beating, that’s it.
Historically, the heart has symbolized love, which is why we say someone has stolen our heart away. We can love someone with all our heart and suffer from a broken heart when the relationship ends.
Even in debates unconnected with love, the aim is getting to the heart of the matter. With a good friend, we bare our hearts, and when we have an argument, we may harden our hearts against them.
Now, please join me on two imaginary scenarios that highlight the importance of the heart in the way we treat others. In scenario one, you walk into a room and see a small, cloth sack on the couch. Curious to figure out what it is, you pick it up and notice something inside is moving, but making no sound.
You then put your head against it and feel a heartbeat.
I’m betting you’d do everything possible to free whatever is in the sack, so it can breathe freely. After all, you know a heartbeat means the presence of life.
In scenario two, you press your head against the sack, but there’s no heartbeat, so there’s no sense of urgency in freeing whatever is inside the sack — which turns out to be a robotic dog.
Years ago, a baby in the womb was a completely mysterious something, which many considered just a blob of tissue. Over time, though, scientific advances have given us glimpses of this once-mysterious being.
Ultrasound machines, invented in the 1950s, revealed that the “blob” had a definite shape and could move its hands and feet. As science advanced, it became commonplace for parents to know the baby’s sex ahead of time.
Today, the womb is no longer a hidden place, but rather so familiar that many people show photos of their baby in utero to their friends. Also, a fetal echocardiagram can detect the presence of a heartbeat, which is quite separate from the woman’s.
A heated controversy is underway in Georgia because of the fetal-heartbeat law that goes into effect in 2020. It means abortions couldn’t be legally performed once a heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks.
In Georgia, the movie industry is definitely putting in its two cents — or millions of cents — because our state has become a popular place to film TV shows and movies. Some film companies are threatening to take their business elsewhere, since they are opposed to the heartbeat law and disdain what some call a “backward” state.
But science reveals the being in the womb is shaped like a baby, moves like one, has human DNA and a detectible heartbeat.
Further, when surgeons perform fetal surgery to correct defects before birth, they give anesthesia to the mother, and a separate dose to the fetus.
You see, the fetus is treated as a separate patient, whose physical responses, monitored during surgery, are different from the woman’s. In short, the fetus isn’t part of a woman’s body, but rather a distinct human life.
In a moral society, there is no price tag placed on human life, so if the movie industry leaves Georgia, resulting in economic disruption, that can’t be an argument against this law.
Heroes do the right thing without considering the potential loss to them, and are even willing to sacrifice their lives while protecting others.
The heartbeat bill is a huge plus for the protection of vulnerable human life. It’s the right thing to do — and in my book, that’s heroic, not backward.
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