Anti-Abortion Groups Push ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ Bill In Every State
One by one, states have been introducing legislation that chips away at women’s reproductive rights. Now a coalition of the nation’s preeminent nutjobs is planning to push legislation in all 50 states that would require women to see and hear the fetal heartbeat before having an abortion. Why aren’t they just pushing a single bill on the federal level? For starters, it would be redundant because Michele Bachmann already introduced one last week.
Mike Gonidakis, whose group Ohio Right To Life is part of the coalition, tells the Associated Press that anti-choicers’ renewed focus on heartbeats has nothing to do with the insane (and illegal) bill that’s currently stalled in the Ohio legislature. The “Heartbeat Bill,” which involved a fetus testifying before a committee, would ban women from getting an abortion if the fetus’ heartbeat can be detected. The timeframe varies, but in some cases that could be as early as 18 days after conception. The bill is such a clear violation of Roe v. Wade’s viability standard that it’s divided anti-abortion groups, as some fear that it will only reaffirm the 1973 decision.