A bill imposing one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the nation was signed into law in Ohio on Thursday, banning abortions after a detectable heartbeat in a long-sought victory for abortion opponents that drew an immediate constitutional challenge.

In signing the heartbeat bill, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine broke with his predecessor, Republican John Kasich, who had vetoed the measure twice on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

But DeWine defended Ohio Republicans' decision to push the boundaries of the law, because "it is the right thing to do."

"Taking this action really is a kind of a time-honored tradition, the constitutional tradition of making a good faith argument for modification or reversal of existing legal precedents," he said. "So that is what this is."

He said it's the government's job to protect the vulnerable. The bill outlaws abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which doctors say can be as early as five weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

Ohio's closely divided politics had slowed the progress of the bill as it has caught momentum elsewhere , forcing years of debate in the state where the movement originated. Of five previous states that have passed heartbeat bills, three have seen their laws struck down or blocked by the courts, another faces a legal injunction and the fifth is awaiting governor's action.

DeWine's action came a day after the latest version of the bill cleared the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Even before the bill was signed, the ACLU of Ohio said it was preparing a constitutional challenge to the law on behalf of Pre-Term Cleveland and three other Ohio abortion clinics.

The legal challenge is what the bill's backers have always wanted. They hope to provoke a legal challenge with the potential to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until viability, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.

"The heartbeat bill is the next incremental step in our strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade," said Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis. "While other states embrace radical legislation to legalize abortion on demand through the ninth month of pregnancy, Ohio has drawn a line and continues to advance protections for unborn babies."

Kellie Copeland, director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said lawmakers and the governor have plunged the state into "a dystopian nightmare where people are forced to continue pregnancies regardless of the harm that may come to them or their family."

The law makes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

EMILY's List, a national group that supports candidates who favor abortion rights, also decried the Ohio bill, as did the Democratic National Committee.

DNC CEO Seema Nanda called it "the latest example of how the Trump administration's extremist, anti-women policies have emboldened legislators across the country to attack women's access to health care."

DeWine said his administration is committed to supporting pregnant women.

"I just want to make it very, very clear, our concern is not just for the unborn, our concern is for all individuals who need protection," he said. "It is our duty, I believe, and an essential function of government, to protect those who cannot protect themselves." </s> Ohio Gov. Bill DeWine has defiantly signed the “heartbeat” abortion ban into law, despite fierce opposition from Democrats.

The Republican governor signed the bill after the state legislature approved the legislation on Wednesday.

Foxnews.com reports: John Kasich, DeWine’s Republican predecessor, vetoed the measure twice while in office. He said such a law would create a costly court battle and likely be found unconstitutional.

Before DeWine signed the legislation Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they were preparing a constitutional challenge to the law on behalf of Pre-Term Cleveland and three other Ohio abortion clinics.

“Similar versions of this unconstitutional abortion ban stand 0-4 in federal court. Soon to be 0-5,” the Ohio chapter tweeted, while the ACLU said: “We’ll see you in court.”

The bill — which makes no exceptions for rape or incest — is among the most restrictive abortion measures in the country.

Other states like Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississipi, Missouri, South Carolina and West Virginia are among the states that have either passed “heartbeat” legislation or are hoping to do so.

This comes as states like New York, New Mexico, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia, among other Democratic-leaning states, are supporting bills that allow abortion up to the moment of birth. </s> No topic seemed off limits, including tales of back alleys and coat hangers, as abortion-rights supporters in Ohio fought perhaps the last battle over a twice-vetoed heartbeat abortion ban, which Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will sign.

Both the House and Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, sending it on its way to DeWine’s desk.

But getting there wasn’t easy.

After nearly 10 years of fighting, Democrats let loose during the run-up to final House and Senate approval with lessons from slavery, predictions of economic harm, references to the book of Genesis, and testimonials about their own rapes.

Faith groups brandished banners and made pleas for religious tolerance. An advocate for reproductive rights threatened Republicans with the loss of young voters’ support in 2020.

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Ohio’s closely divided politics slowed the progress of the so-called heartbeat bill as it has caught momentum elsewhere, forcing years of debate in the state where the movement originated.

Five other states have now passed similar abortion bans, two of which have been blocked by the courts. DeWine, who took office in January, has said he will sign the bill, after former GOP Gov. John Kasich vetoed it twice.

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, a Democrat, shed tears during the debate, exasperated at a bill she said would harm Ohio and its future.

“I’m concerned that we will have companies that will choose not to locate here due to our oppressive laws. I’m concerned that doctors will leave the state of Ohio,” she said.

“I’m concerned that our kids are going to leave, that we’re going to lose a large amount of young people who don’t want to live in an oppressive atmosphere.”

State Rep. Candice Keller, a Middletown Republican, called the legislation “the most compassionate bill we’ve ever passed.”

Keller rejected Democratic suggestions that everyone knows someone who has had, or will want to have, an abortion; that women will continue to have abortions, only unsafely; and Democratic arguments that abortion rights are about women’s rights.

“If we are really about empowering the women of Ohio and empowering the women of this country, we will begin to tell the truth about the abortion industry and the enormous amount of profit that is made on the backs of women,” she said.

During floor debate Wednesday, two female representatives who said they had been raped, slammed the bill for not making exceptions for rape and incest. Another female lawmaker said her great-grandmother bled to death in a bathtub trying self-administer an abortion.

House Health Committee Chairman Derek Merrin criticized those who say abortion drives down health care costs.

The procedure, he said, is simply wrong.

“My heart, Mr. Speaker, tells me it’s wrong. My understanding of the law and of the Constitution tells me it’s wrong. And in the spirit of fairness, equality, and justice, I know it’s wrong,” Merrin said.

Prohibiting abortions at the first detectable heartbeat means prohibiting virtually all abortions, said Dr. Michael Cackovic, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center. He said current standard practice, which involves transvaginal ultrasound, can reliably detect a heartbeat five to six weeks into pregnancy.

“Essentially, that’s three to four weeks after conception, or one to two weeks after a missed period,” he said.

Cackovic said the heartbeat prohibition would require women who want an abortion to determine they’re pregnant using an over-the-counter pregnancy test and the procedure between four and five weeks into pregnancy.

“You’re going to be doing more procedures and subjecting women to more procedures and medications to get abortions, because they’re rushing between that four and five weeks to get it accomplished,” he said.

About a third of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, he said, so the law also would force many women who don’t want to be pregnant to get abortions needlessly, when they might naturally have miscarried.

State Rep. Beth Liston, a Dublin Democrat and a pediatrician, said proponents’ hopes of challenging the viability standard upheld in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision aren’t grounded in science. She said she favors the idea from Genesis that breath begins life.

“Simply put, you need lungs and a brain to live, and there’s no technology in the world that will change that,” she said.

The earliest bans on heartbeat abortion, in Iowa and North Carolina, have been blocked by the courts. Three more states — Mississippi, Kentucky and Georgia — have more recently passed bills amid growing national momentum. The Georgia bill has not yet been signed by the governor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> None of the six-week abortion bans have been enacted due to legal challenges.Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the controversial ban, which is one of the most stringent in the country, on Thursday.Similar bills had been proposed in Ohio in the past, but the state's last Republican governor, John Kasich , vetoed those saying that they were unconstitutional.The legality of abortion bans that start at the point of a detectable heartbeat - which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy when some women may not know that they are pregnant - has been challenged in a number of other states.As soon as DeWine signed the Ohio bill into law, the state's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that they will be challenging it in court."This legislation is blatantly unconstitutional and we will fight to the bitter end to ensure that this bill is permanently blocked," said Freda Levenson, the legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, in a statement. "SB 23 is one of the most aggressive, oppressive, and radical attacks against women ever seen in this state and this country."While no six-week ban has actually gone into effect , abortion advocates claim lawmakers push for "radical abortion bans" as "part of a deliberate strategy" to get legal challenges that could take an abortion case to the Supreme Court, as Elizabeth Nash, the senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, said on a conference call with reporters in late March The Planned Parenthood Action Fund reports that in the first three months of 2019, there were 16 states where a six-week abortion ban has been either filed, moved or signed into law.The debate over such a ban in Georgia is ongoing, and the state's legislature has approved of the bill but it is awaiting the governor's signature.One potentially unexpected group that came out against the Georgia bill is the Writers Guild of America East and West, which released a statement condemning the "draconian anti-choice measure." </s> DES MOINES, Iowa >> Republican lawmakers with control of the Iowa statehouse fast-tracked a bill early Wednesday that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, sending what could be the nation’s most restrictive abortion legislation to the governor.

Critics say the so-called “heartbeat” bill would ban the medical procedure before some women even know they’re pregnant, and it sets the state up for a legal challenge over its constitutionality.

“How dare we think that the privacy and decisions of a woman and her medical choices are up to us to determine?” said Rep. Vicki Lensing, an Iowa City Democrat, during House floor debate that began early afternoon Tuesday and stretched until shortly before midnight. “I am personally offended by this bill that seems to second-guess a woman’s ability to make an unintended and difficult decision.”

The measure was passed with nearly back-to-back chamber votes along party lines, culminating in approval in the Senate shortly after 2 a.m. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is anti-abortion but hasn’t said publicly if she will sign it into law. Her press secretary, Brenna Smith, indicated in an email the governor was open to signing it.

“Governor Reynolds is 100 percent pro-life and will never stop fighting for the unborn,” Smith said.

The legislation passed overnight has some exemptions, allowing abortions after a detectable heartbeat in order to save a pregnant woman’s life, and in some cases of rape and incest. Another provision prohibits some uses of fetal tissue, with exemptions for research.

Republicans at the Iowa Capitol have long sought to approve legislation that would further restrict abortion, and their flip of the state Senate chamber in the 2016 election gave them a trifecta of GOP power for the first time in nearly 20 years. Last session, they passed a bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, which is in effect. A provision in that legislation requiring a three-day waiting period for abortions — among the longest wait periods in the country — was challenged in court. It remains on hold amid litigation being considered by the state Supreme Court.

“A baby has become something we can throw away. This bill says it’s time to change the way we think about unborn life,” said Rep. Sandy Salmon, a Janesville Republican.

If passed, the legislation could face challenges claiming it violates U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including Roe v. Wade. Some Republicans say they want the bill to abolish the landmark 1973 ruling that says women have a right to terminate pregnancies until a fetus is viable.

“I would love for the United States Supreme Court to look at this bill and have this as a vehicle to overturn Roe v. Wade,” said Sen. Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel.

Several states have attempted to advance abortion bans in recent years. Mississippi passed a law earlier this year banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but it’s on hold after a court challenge. A federal appeals court, whose territory includes Iowa, rejected heartbeat bills passed in 2013 in North Dakota and Arkansas. The U.S. Supreme Court then declined to review the cases. </s> Louisiana’s state legislature on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a so-called “heartbeat” pro-life bill, becoming the latest in a slew of states to enact strict new restrictions on abortion that many conservatives have hoped will end with the Supreme Court revisiting its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The bill, which cleared the Louisiana House by a 79-23 vote, requires an ultrasound to be conducted prior to any abortion procedure being performed. If a heartbeat is detected, the bill bans abortion unless, under penalty of perjury, the abortion provider declares the procedure necessary “to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

The bill also includes an exemption in the case that a physician certifies that the “unborn child has a profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomaly that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth.” The text does not include an exception for rape or incest, but includes penalties only for abortion providers — not women seeking abortions.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has said he will buck the national party establishment and sign the measure into law. Another Democrat, state Sen. John Milkovich, sponsored the bill — underscoring the deep pro-life culture in Louisiana, even among liberal politicians.

In a statement posted on Twitter shortly after the vote, Edwards emphasized that “being pro-life means more than just being pro-birth,” touted his criminal justice reform and foster care initiatives, and vowed to sign the bill into law.

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted similar heartbeat bills, while Missouri lawmakers approved an eight-week ban on abortion. Alabama has gone further, outlawing virtually all abortions.

None of the bans has taken effect, and all are expected to face legal challenges.

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Louisiana’s prohibition would take hold only if neighboring Mississippi’s law is upheld by a federal appeals court. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Mississippi law Friday.

In that respect, the new law is somewhat similar to a 2006 “trigger law,” signed into law by then-Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat. That law effectively would ban all abortions, except where the mother’s health is in jeopardy, immediately if the Supreme Court ever reversed Roe, the seminal case that established a constitutional right to privacy and prescribed a limited right to an abortion that the high court has later refined.

On Tuesday, in a 20-page concurring opinion in an abortion-related case on fetal remains, Justice Clarence Thomas previewed what is likely to become an all-out legislative and judicial brawl over the topic in the coming years.

Thomas openly likened abortion to birth control and eugenics, citing the statistics of minorities affected by abortion, and argued that the dissenting opinion by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “makes little sense.”

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“Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation,” Thomas wrote, “the court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana’s.”

Ginsburg shot back that one of Thomas’ footnotes “displays more heat than light.” </s> Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says he plans to sign a fetal-heartbeat bill passed by the state legislature, breaking with the Democratic Party on the pivotal abortion issue.

Shortly after legislators gave final passage to Senate Bill 184, the Democratic governor reminded voters that he has never made any secret of his abortion views, running in 2015 “as a pro-life candidate after serving as a pro-life legislator for eight years.”

“I know there are many who feel just as strongly as I do on abortion and disagree with me — and I respect their opinions,” said Mr. Bel Edwards in a Wednesday statement.

With his signature, Louisiana would join a dozen red states in passing tough new restrictions this year on abortion access, many of them aimed at challenging the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision as the court grows more conservative.

Republican governors in four states have signed into law fetal heartbeat bills, which prohibit most abortions after about six weeks’ gestation, or after the time in which a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Such laws in Kentucky and Mississippi have already been blocked by judges pending court battles.

Other states expanding abortion restrictions include Missouri, which approved a ban on most abortions after eight weeks’ pregnancy, and Alabama, which passed a two-week ban, the most restrictive in the nation.

Mr. Bel Edwards would apparently become the first Democrat to sign a fetal-heartbeat bill. In 2013, such legislation became law in Arkansas after the Republican legislature overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.

The Arkansas law was overturned the following year in federal court.

Red-state Louisiana has a history of bipartisan support for pro-life legislation. In 2006, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a “trigger” bill, which would outlaw most abortions if Roe is overturned.

The Louisiana bill, which won House approval Wednesday on a bipartisan 79-23 vote, calls for doctors who violate the law to face criminal penalties and risk losing their medical license.

The bill includes no exceptions for rape or incest, but does allow abortions to “prevent the death of a pregnant woman or to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”

The Louisiana bill would only become law if Roe is overturned or if the Mississippi fetal-heartbeat measure is deemed constitutional.

Alanah Odoms Hebert, ACLU of Louisiana executive director, condemned the “abortion ban,” calling it “part of a concerted national effort to criminalize abortion.”

“After years of attacks on abortion access, Louisiana politicians have now sunk to a new low with an extreme ban that would outlaw abortion before many women know they are pregnant,” she said.

Louisiana Right to Life Executive Director Benjamin Clapper commended the state legislature after passage of the House bill.

“Abortion stops the beating heart of a precious unborn child, and our nation must bring an end to this injustice,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to Governor John Bel Edwards signing this bill into law.” </s> Transcript for Iowa could pass one of 'the most restrictive' abortion laws in the US

Lawmakers and Iowa have improved the most strict abortion bill in the country the so called heartbeat bill Bloc's most abortions after fetal heartbeat is detected. Which is typically six weeks into the pregnancy. Critics point out that at six weeks most women don't even know they're pregnant as yet the governor has not said whether she plans to sign that bill. </s> Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill on Friday that criminalizes abortions in the state after eight weeks of pregnancy, the latest in a series of sweeping restrictions passed by Republican-controlled legislatures that now threaten nearly 50 years of federal protections for abortion.

Under the law, any person who performs an abortion after eight weeks — which is often before many women are aware they are pregnant — could be charged with a Class B felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison.

The final version of the legislation does not have exceptions for victims of rape or incest. It does have a carve-out for cases of medical emergencies.

Parson, a Republican who has said he would like to make Missouri "the most Pro-Life state in the country," is the latest conservative governor to sign a far-reaching abortion restriction into law, presenting yet another possible challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling establishing a woman's right to have an abortion. The Missouri Senate approved the measure just one day after Alabama's governor, Republican Kay Ivey, signed a bill that bans nearly all abortions and makes no exception for cases of incest or rape.

Supporters of the Missouri legislation say it is distinctive from the Alabama law in one significant way: It was not written to topple Roe v. Wade. Rather, its backers say, it's aimed at curbing abortions within the bounds of the law.

"We do not want to run through the courts and try to overturn Roe v. Wade like some of the legislators in other states, like Alabama. We just want to save as many lives as we can while withstanding judicial challenges," Missouri Rep. Nick Schroer, a Republican sponsor of the bill, told NPR. "We want to get as close to the line as possible on what previous judges have thrown out."

Other states, including Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi, have recently passed bills that forbid abortions when a heartbeat is detected.

The Missouri law stipulates that if an abortion within the eight-week window is performed, the woman needs to be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound, but it is not mandatory that she view it.

The bill, HB 126, known as the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, passed both chambers of the General Assembly last week. Under the bill, women will be able to terminate a pregnancy after eight weeks only if they meet the law's definition of a medical emergency, which lawmakers defined as something that "so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert the death of the pregnant woman or for which a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment."

Before the bill's passage, protesters' shouts of "When you lie, people die" filled the chamber before they were escorted out of the building.

Over more than two hours of debate, Republicans and Democrats delivered forceful arguments about the bill, with Democrats — at times yelling and at other moments sobbing — attempting to persuade the body to reject the measure.

"This gives more rights to the rapists than it does to the mother," said Rep. Doug Beck, a Democrat. "This law is barbaric."

Rep. Barbara Washington, another Democratic legislator, criticized the law.

"This bill is not about pro-life; it is about anti-choice," Washington said. "Any time we are so disrespectful and immoral that we would force a woman to bring to life a child that is the result of a rape, an incest or sex trafficking, we are not thinking about life."

One moment of the debate lit up social media when Rep. Barry Hovis, a Republican and former police officer, shared his own experience investigating rape cases.

"Most of my rapes were not the gentlemen jumping out of the bushes that nobody had ever met. That was one or two times out of a hundred. Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes, which were all terrible," he said.

After a public backlash from Democrats and legions on social media, Hovis apologized, saying he misspoke.

At a press briefing on Friday, reporters asked the governor why he supported an abortion ban that does not create exceptions for rape or incest victims; he deflected the question.

"Because I'm the governor of the state of Missouri, and that's what I do. If legislators send a bill to me, I'm going to sign it," Parson said. "I believe in the pro-life side of the issue," he said. "Does it meet what I believe to be constitutional in our state? I believe this piece of legislation does."

President Trump promised in his 2016 campaign to appoint Supreme Court justices who would undo Roe, but whether the slate of state bills striving to do that will be successful is uncertain.

With the U.S. Supreme Court now composed of five Republican-appointed justices who may be willing to reexamine long-standing precedent, the high court may someday accept a case that could alter the landmark case, though legal experts are doubtful the court will review such a case before the 2020 election.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signs a bill that restricts abortion after a detectable heartbeat. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said it was preparing a constitutional challenge to the law.