In an effort to combat misinformation surrounding newly implemented “heartbeat laws” and abortion bans in the United States, the MYA Network of clinicians and activists has released photos of what pregnancy actually looks like in the first ten weeks.

These-lesser seen images of the way tissue develops in the earliest stages of pregnancy - the time frame in which the majority of abortion procedures take place - may provide a different context than the more familiar images of fully or partially developed fetuses used in pro-life campaigns.In at least 13 U.S. states abortion has been almost completely outlawed, even in the earliest stages of gestation, turning the medical procedure into a political and moral battleground.

U.S. CDC data from 2019 shows that 93 percent of abortions occurred at or before 13 weeks of gestation.

Dr. Michele Gomez, a member of MYA Network, says that she thinks there are clinicians who prefer not to share these images with patients out of concern for their reactions, “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 counter the misinformation. To say: this is not something that’s scary, or dangerous, or violent. It’s just a picture of something that’s in your body,” Gomez said.

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