Dr. Peter Boylan:

One can detect a foetal heartbeat from very early on in a pregnancy. It is important to understand, however, that in the womb one does not have what used to be called a homunculus or fully-formed human from the early stages. There is a huge amount of complex development. When one can see a heartbeat in the womb, what one is looking at is a tube which is pulsating. It is not the heart as we know it. It is important to understand there are complex developments which take place from the beginning of conception right up until us, if one likes. Again, we come back to the belief systems.