4 examples of Dr. Mehmet Oz's evolving views on culture war issues
2. Conception and heartbeat bills: 'A little acorn'
Oz has also apparently changed his views on when life begins.
In his 2019 interview on The Breakfast Club, Oz challenged so-called "heartbeat bills" that ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks.
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"The average person's envisioning a little acorn with a heart beating in there," he said. "That's not what's going on at six weeks." He claimed most Americans believe that unless a baby is viable outside the womb, "then the mom runs the show."
“You’re asking women to decide almost instantaneously if they’re pregnant or not. … I don’t quite get it as a doctor," he said. He went on to assert there is no fetal heartbeat at six weeks of pregnancy, calling it "little electrical exchanges" instead of a beating human heart.
"If you’re going to define life by a beating heart, then make it a beating heart, not little electrical exchanges in the cell that no one would hear or think about as a heart," he said.
In December 2021, Oz dodged specificity when asked by the National Review of Medicine when life begins, vaguely stating it "begins when you're in the mother’s womb." He deflected when he was pressed regarding his lack of clarity on when life begins, saying it was a "rathole to get trapped into different ways of talking about it."
By May 2022, he was asserting that life begins at conception, according to NBC News.
"I do believe life starts at conception," he said, adding that terminating a pregnancy at any stage regardless of heartbeat constitutes "murder," which marked a clear pivot toward a firmer pro-life stance.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
