Most public issues these days seem to elicit angry dispute and mutual recriminations. Those divisions can tempt people to misstate or exaggerate facts, to persuade others (or even themselves) that they are right and their opponents are not worth thinking about. Abortion is one topic where emotions run high and create that temptation. Which brings me to the new Texas “heartbeat law” that is in the news. The most remarkable things have been said about this law by people who apparently have not read or understood it. The law requires a physician, before performing an abortion, to determine whether the unborn child has a heartbeat detectable by usual medical standards. If so, the abortion is allowed only if there is…