A six-week abortion ban or early abortion ban, called a "heartbeat bill" or "fetal heartbeat bill" by proponents, is a form of
abortion restriction legislation in the United States.
These bans make
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
illegal as early as six weeks
gestational age
In obstetrics, gestational age is a measure of the age of a pregnancy which is taken from the beginning of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP), or the corresponding age of the gestation as estimated by a more accurate method if available. Suc ...
(two or three weeks into a pregnancy), which is when proponents claim that a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected.
Medical and reproductive health experts, including the
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's state ...
and the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a professional association of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States. Several Latin American countries are also represented within Districts of ...
, say that the reference to a fetal heartbeat is medically inaccurate and intentionally misleading because a
conceptus
A conceptus (from Latin: ''concipere'' to conceive) is an embryo and its appendages (adnexa), the associated membranes, placenta, and umbilical cord; the products of conception or, more broadly, "the product of conception at any point between fert ...
is not called a
fetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
until after ten weeks of pregnancy, before which the proper term is an
embryo
An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
, as well as that at six weeks the embryo has no heart, which at that stage is only a group of cells which will become a heart. Medical professionals advise that a true fetal heartbeat cannot be detected until around 17 to 20 weeks of gestation when the chambers of the heart have become sufficiently developed.
Janet Porter
Janet L. Folger Porter (born October 13, 1962) is an American anti-abortion activist and author.
Biography
Porter founded the now defunct website ''ReaganBook'', and in 2003 the conservative Christian ministry Faith2Action. Porter is most known ...
, an anti-abortion activist from
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, is considered to be the person that first authored this type of legislation.
Efforts to introduce her
model law
A model act, also called a model law or a piece of model legislation, is a suggested example for a law, drafted centrally to be disseminated and suggested for enactment in multiple independent legislatures. The motivation classically has been the ...
succeeded in passing through political branches of government in about a dozen states, but in most cases the courts struck down or blocked similar legislation. However, the
Texas law
The law of Texas is derived from the ''Constitution of Texas'' and consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local laws and regulations.
Sources
The Constitution of Texas is t ...
and analogues subsequently adopted in other states succeeded due to a unique enforcement mechanism that makes challenging the law extremely difficult, and which was upheld by the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. In some states, the heartbeat bills' effect (whether blocked or not) has been minimized by more stringent total abortion bans that were announced following the decision in ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...
''; in other states, such as Ohio,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
and
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, judges lifted the injunctions against the previously passed laws.
Anti-abortion groups
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
argue that heartbeat "is the universally recognized indicator of life" and as such must be protected.
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:
Reproductive rights rest on t ...
advocates, on the other hand, say that these bans are ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' complete abortion bans, since many women do not even know that they are pregnant six weeks after their last
menstruation
Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...
, which is four weeks post-fertilization.
Background
The heartbeat bills are based on model legislation created by Faith2Action, a conservative Christian ministry from
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
advocating for abortion restrictions. Its founder and leader,
Janet Porter
Janet L. Folger Porter (born October 13, 1962) is an American anti-abortion activist and author.
Biography
Porter founded the now defunct website ''ReaganBook'', and in 2003 the conservative Christian ministry Faith2Action. Porter is most known ...
, said that she was frustrated by what she saw was slow progress in banning pregnancy termination around the United States.
The activist thus authored the
Ohio House Bill 493 in 2011, and arranged for heart-shaped balloons and fetuses' "testimony" in the legislature, but the bill failed to get out of the Senate because the lawmakers feared the bill was unconstitutional.
Her efforts were not considered mainstream at the time, and the
Ohio Right to Life
Ohio Right to Life is an anti-abortion group based in Columbus, Ohio. It was established in 1967 by Jack Willke and his wife, Barbara. Its president is Michael Gonidakis, who Ohio Governor John Kasich appointed to the state medical board in 2012. ...
, an anti-abortion group which previously employed Porter, opposed such legislation.
While that proposal failed, a flurry of
copycat legislation was proposed in several other states, which has not abated since then.
In 2013, North Dakota became the first state to pass legislation banning abortions after six weeks. In 2015, the law was ruled unconstitutional under the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court decision ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' (1973). Eleven states have proposed bills for six-week abortion bans since 2018; since 2019, such bills have passed including bills in Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas, most of which lie either partly or entirely in the
Bible Belt
The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's aver ...
. Utah and Arkansas voted to limit the procedure to the middle of the second trimester. As of June 2021,
except for the Texas bill, none of the laws were in effect due to court intervention. The
Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute is a research and policy NGO that aims to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. This research organization was started in 1968 and works to study, educate, and advance sexual and reproductive health ...
writes that "state policymakers are testing the limits of what the new U.S. Supreme Court majority might allow and laying the groundwork for a day when federal constitutional protections for abortion are weakened or eliminated entirely."
Texas has taken a novel approach in their wording of the legislation; rather than have the government enforce the law, private citizens are to be allowed to sue the provider or anyone that helps the woman to get an abortion. ''
The Texas Tribune
''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events.
Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternativ ...
'' writes that "supporters of the bill hope this novel provision will trip up legal challenges to the legislation, as without state officials enforcing the ban, there will be nobody for pro-women's rights groups to sue."
Timing
Because the start of pregnancy is measured from the date of a woman's last
menstruation
Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...
(generally about two weeks before
conception), six weeks into a pregnancy equals four weeks of embryonic development, and only two weeks after a woman's first ''missed'' period, when many women are unaware that they are pregnant.
Most women who have an abortion do so after six weeks' gestation.
Reproductive rights advocates contend that because of these and other reasons, the "fetal heartbeat bills" are ''de facto'' bans on abortion.
Terminology
While some of these laws ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and are called "fetal heartbeat" laws by their proponents who claim that a fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks, doctors have said that the term "fetal heartbeat" at that stage is false and intentionally misleading. A
conceptus
A conceptus (from Latin: ''concipere'' to conceive) is an embryo and its appendages (adnexa), the associated membranes, placenta, and umbilical cord; the products of conception or, more broadly, "the product of conception at any point between fert ...
is not called a fetus until after ten weeks of pregnancy, before which the proper term is an embryo. Additionally, since at six weeks the embryo has no heart, only a group of cells which will become a heart, calling it a heartbeat is also misleading. The heart will only have formed enough to be able to hear a real fetal heartbeat by 17–20 weeks of gestation.
Jennifer Keats, an
OB-GYN
Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and t ...
at
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...
, stated that the embryo's cardiovascular system at six weeks is "very immature". Keats described the cardiac activity as "a group of cells with electrical activity. That's what the heartbeat is at that stage of gestation... We are in no way talking about any kind of cardiovascular system."
Ted Anderson, formerly president of the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a professional association of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States. Several Latin American countries are also represented within Districts of ...
(ACOG), said that "ACOG does not use the term 'heartbeat' to describe these legislative bans on abortion because it is misleading language, out of step with the anatomical and clinical realities of that stage of pregnancy." and "Pregnancy and fetal development are a continuum; What's interpreted as a heartbeat in these bills is actually electrically induced flickering of a portion of fetal tissue that will become the heart as the embryo develops."
Controversy exists surrounding six-week abortion bans in part because there is debate on the point at which an embryo heartbeat can be detected. In 2013, when the Wyoming House of Representatives considered a "heartbeat bill",
Norine Kasperik
Norine A. Kasperik is an American politician and a former Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives representing District 32.
Education
Kasperik earned her diploma from the UPMC Shadyside School ...
said that "she heard different answers
sto when a heartbeat is detectable", and in her view "there seemed to be variation by medical equipment used".
Mary Throne
Mary Ann Throne (born c. 1960) is a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, representing the 11th district from 2007 until 2017. In August 2017, Throne announced her candidacy for Govern ...
asked: "Is this abortion illegal at 22 days with a highly invasive ultrasound or is it illegal at 9 weeks when we hear a heartbeat with a stethoscope?"
Other critics of the bills have claimed that they ignore that not all embryos' heartbeats become detectable at the same time, even when measured using the same methods.
The
Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...
has stated that there is some inconsistency with regard to these laws; specifically, the Arkansas law requires providers to use an abdominal ultrasound to attempt to detect a fetal heartbeat, while the North Dakota law allows the use of any available technology, including a transvaginal probe, which makes it possible to detect a fetal heartbeat earlier than an abdominal ultrasound can.
With specific regard to the North Dakota law, detecting an embryo's heartbeat at six weeks into a pregnancy requires the use of a
transvaginal ultrasound
Vaginal ultrasonography is a medical ultrasonography that applies an ultrasound transducer (or "probe") in the vagina to visualize organs within the pelvic cavity. It is also called transvaginal ultrasonography because the ultrasound waves go ''a ...
, which some members of the abortion-rights movement say is unnecessarily invasive.
Controversy
Pregnancy from rape
It is estimated that there are 25–32thousand pregnancies from rape per year in adult women, although the number may be considerably higher because many women do not report a rape. Most women develop
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
(PTSD) following rape, and find a decision especially difficult so soon after the trauma of the rape and the physical and mental trauma that they may experience for an extended period of time.
In the United States, there are an estimated 25–32thousand pregnancies from rape per year in adult women. Many victims receive little to no aftercare and most experience various forms of PTSD. A third of these pregnancies are not discovered until the second trimester. Any delay in detection reduces women's options, especially outside major urban centers, but many women are still recovering from being raped when they are called on to decide whether to have an abortion.
It is known that most women do not report sexual assault, and many times it is hard to bring an assault case to trial. Teenage girls are especially unlikely to report assault, even though 74% of women who had intercourse before age 14 and 60% of those who had sex before age 15 report having had a forced sexual experience. One study conducted in the 1970s that looked at California data found that "on average, only 413 men were arrested annually for statutory rape in California, even though 50,000 pregnancies occurred among underage women in 1976 alone".
Alabama's "heartbeat bill", passed in 2019, makes abortions illegal even in cases of rape and incest. Furthermore, it requires that judges terminate the parental rights of a man convicted of first-degree rape and certain other sex crimes, leaving a loophole that allows rapists to seek custody of a child conceived through their assault. However, because the law requires a conviction, activists say that since most sexual assaults are never reported, much less produce a finding of guilt in court, many victims are left vulnerable. Activists fear that a victim could find herself in a situation where she would be forced to bear a child of rape and then be forced to co-parent the child with her rapist.
Responding to criticism of the Texas "heartbeat bill" which also includes women or girls who have been raped, Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 50th Tex ...
asserts that the Act will not force a woman who has been raped to carry a pregnancy to term because the state will "work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets."
Constitutionality
Critics of six-week abortion bans say that, since ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' established that states must allow abortion until the
point of viability (between 24 and 28 weeks into the pregnancy), such bills "blatantly contradict" Supreme Court precedent. The 2013 North Dakota law banning abortions after six weeks was ruled in District Court to be "clearly invalid and unconstitutional based on the United States Supreme Court precedent in ''Roe v. Wade''."
Proponents of six-week abortion bans contend that the constitutional precedent of ''Roe v. Wade'' should be re-examined in light of advancements in law and science. Ohio governor Mike DeWine argued that the main purposes of the bills are to "protect the most vulnerable among us, those who don't have a voice" and that the "government's role should be to protect life from the beginning to the end."
"Informed consent" laws
A related though distinct type of law is that introduced at the state level in all 50 states in the US in October 2011, which would require any woman seeking an abortion to see and hear their conceptus's heartbeat. Supporters included the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...
,
Americans United for Life
Americans United for Life (AUL) is an American anti-abortion law firm and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1971, the group opposes abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and certain contraceptive ...
, and the
Susan B. Anthony List
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (formerly Susan B. Anthony List) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that seeks to reduce and ultimately end abortion in the U.S. by supporting anti-abortion politicians, primarily women, through its SBA List ...
.
Another such bill was introduced in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. A similar type of legislation, the Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, was introduced at the national level around the same time by
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 20 ...
; however, it died in committee. Another law of this variety, introduced by
Sharon Weston Broome
Sharon Weston Broome (born October 1, 1956) is the mayor-president of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She served in the Louisiana State Senate representing the 15th district from 2005 to 2016. She was elected mayor-president in a runoff election held o ...
, was passed by legislators in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
in 2012, as an amendment to a 2010 bill requiring women seeking an abortion to receive an
ultrasound
Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...
of their conceptus. Similar laws have been passed in states such as
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
in 2005; and a law that mandated both an ultrasound of the "unborn child" and listening to its heartbeat before an abortion could be procured was
laid on the table in 2012 in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. This last bill became controversial when
Tom Corbett
Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1995 ...
, Pennsylvania's governor, stated that "You just have to close your eyes" and dismissed accusations that the bill would be unnecessarily obtrusive. Furthermore, while the anti-abortion movement claims that bills mandating a woman listen to her conceptus' heartbeat would increase the likelihood of them changing their mind, the abortion-rights community, with the support of the
Pennsylvania Medical Society
The Pennsylvania Medical Society, which was founded in 1848, is a democratic organization governed by its physician members. It represents physicians in public venues including the government, insurance companies, and the media; provides members ...
, opposes "informed-consent" bills because they threaten to, if passed, "significantly jeopardize the open dialogue within the
physician-patient relationship."
"Informed consent" laws requiring women seeking abortions to have the physician play a recording of her conceptus' heartbeat have met with challenges in court, notably in Texas, when the CRR filed a lawsuit against it, leading to a court case entitled ''Texas Medical Providers Performing Abortion Services v. Lakey''. Prior to
Sam Sparks
Sam Sparks (born 1939) is a Senior United States district judge of the Austin Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Early life
After graduating from Austin High School as senior class president, Spark ...
condemning the law in January 2012, however, a federal district court had ruled that the law violated the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
in August 2011. This decision was reversed by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* Eastern District of Louisiana
* M ...
, led by
Edith Jones
Edith Hollan Jones (born April 7, 1949) is a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge and the former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Jones was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on Febr ...
. Another similar law was challenged in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
in ''Stuart v. Huff'', in which a federal district court ruled that the law was in violation of the First Amendment. This case, unlike the one in Texas, has not yet been appealed. This has led to some debate among different anti-abortion groups regarding strategy; specifically, while some of these groups, like the Kansas Coalition for Life, have supported the passing of this legislation, others, like Kansans for Life, are concerned that "enacting a fetal heartbeat ban would prompt a court ruling undoing some limits on abortion and providers." Paul Linton, former general counselor for AUL, has argued that fetal heartbeat laws "have no chance in the courts." He, like most mainstream anti-abortion advocates (including
James Bopp
James Bopp Jr. (born February 8, 1948) is an American conservative lawyer. He is most known for his work associated with election laws, anti-abortion model legislation, and campaign finance.
Bopp served as deputy attorney general of Indiana from ...
), prefers instead a legislative strategy that chips away at ''Roe v. Wade''.
Legal challenges
Arkansas lawsuit
On May 27, 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling and permanently blocked the law from being enforced. In January 2016, The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, leaving the Eighth Circuit's ruling in place.
Iowa lawsuit
On May 15, 2018, eleven days after
Iowa Governor,
Kim Reynolds
Kimberly Kay Reynolds (née Strawn; born August 4, 1959) is an American politician serving as the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Reynolds served as the 46th lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011 to 2017.
Bef ...
, signed SF 359 into law, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc., Jill Meadows, and Emma Goldman Clinic (
petitioner {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition.
In the courts
The petitioner may seek a legal remedy if the state or anot ...
s) filed a lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in
state court arguing the fetal heartbeat law violated the Iowa
State Constitution. On June 1, 2018,
Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk:
* Polk County, Arkansas
* Polk County, Florida
* Polk County, Georgia
* Polk County, Iowa
* Polk Count ...
District Court Judge Michael Huppert entered a
preliminary injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
which temporarily blocked the law from going into effect. On January 22, 2019, the county district judge declared the law to be in violation of the Iowa Constitution and entered a
permanent injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
prohibiting its enforcement.
In holding the law unconstitutional the judge cited the
Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.
The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...
's 2018 ruling in a challenge to a different abortion-restriction in which the state's
court of last resort
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
held that "a woman's right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution." Anti-abortion proponents have said they hope this litigation creates a pathway for ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' to be reexamined by the U.S. Supreme Court, but University of Iowa law professor Paul Gowder and other legal experts have said that it is almost impossible that it could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, as the U.S. Supreme Court does not review Supreme Court decisions concerning state constitutional questions.
In response to Judge Michael Huppert's ruling that Iowa's heartbeat abortion ban violates the state Constitution, anti-abortion legislators have filed legislation to amend the state constitution to state "that the Constitution of the State of Iowa does not secure or protect a right to or require the funding of abortion." The resolutions proposing to amend Iowa's constitution are SJR 9 and HJR 5 which were filed on January 24, 2019, and February 6, 2019, respectively.
Kentucky lawsuit
Kentucky already has three lawsuits over abortion restrictions.
North Dakota lawsuit
In July 2015, the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts:
* Eastern District of Arkansas
* Western Distr ...
affirmed a lower court decision blocking HB 1456 from going into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case and the law remains permanently blocked.
South Carolina lawsuit
In August 2022, the
South Carolina Supreme Court
The South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. temporarily granted an injunction suspending the law until it could make a ruling on the constitutionality of the law.
In January 2023, the court overturned the law in a 3-2 split decision, ruling that the 2022 six-week abortion ban violates a woman's right to privacy which is granted by the state constitution.
Texas lawsuits
There have been multiple lawsuits challenging enforcement of the 2021
Texas Heartbeat Act
The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), is an act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law took effect ...
. Several of these are still pending or active.
State laws
Summary table
Alabama
House Bill 490 prohibiting abortions after a heartbeat can be detected was passed by a vote of 73–29 in the Alabama House on March 4, 2014. In doing so they became the first state to pass such a bill. The bill later died in committee.
In 2019, Alabama passed an abortion law that is more far-reaching than a heartbeat law. On April 2, 2019,
House Bill 314
The Human Life Protection Act, also known as House Bill 314 (HB 314) and the Alabama abortion ban, is an Alabama statute enacted on May 15, 2019, that imposes a near-total ban on abortion in the state. Set to go into effect in November 2019, ...
banning abortions at every stage of pregnancy and criminalizing the procedure for doctors (except in the case of medical emergency or lethal fetal anomaly), was introduced into the House. The bill passed the House on April 30 (74–3), passed the Senate on May 14, and was signed into law by Governor
Kay Ivey
Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician serving as the 54th and incumbent governor of Alabama since 2017. Originally a conservative Southern Democrat, Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002. She was the 38t ...
on May 16.
Arkansas
A fetal heartbeat bill, banning abortion after twelve weeks, was passed on January 31, 2013, by the
Arkansas Senate
The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...
, vetoed in
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
by Governor
Mike Beebe
Mickey Dale Beebe ( ; born December 28, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Born in Amagon, Arkansas, Beebe is a graduate of Arkansa ...
, but, on March 6, 2013, his veto was overridden by the
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...
.
A federal judge issued a temporary injunction against the Arkansas law in May 2013, and in March 2014, it was struck down by federal judge
Susan Webber Wright
Susan Webber Wright (née Carter; born August 1, 1948) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Wright is a former judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveil ...
, who described the law as unconstitutional.
Florida
Two fetal heartbeat bills were filed in the
Florida Legislature
The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...
in 2019. Rep.
Mike Hill filed a fetal heartbeat bill (HB 235) on January 10, 2019, in the
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...
.
A companion bill (SB 792), was filed in the
Florida Senate
The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...
on February 6, 2019, by Sen.
Dennis Baxley
Dennis K. Baxley (born August 22, 1952) is a state legislator in Florida who has served in the Florida Senate since 2016. A Republican, he represents the 12th district including Sumter County and parts of Lake County and Marion County in Cent ...
. The bills, which are identical, would have made it a third-degree
felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
for a doctor to perform an abortion on a woman after a fetal heartbeat is detected, unless the "woman has been diagnosed with a condition that would create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function if the woman delayed terminating her pregnancy." Both bills died in committee.
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
Governor
Ron DeSantis
Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Represe ...
has pledged to sign legislation that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat was detected.
Georgia
Two fetal heartbeat bills were filed in the
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
in 2015.
Rep.
Ed Setzler
Leonard Edwin Setzler
Office of the Georgia Secretary of State. (born March 18, 1970) ...
introduced HB 481 in the
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
on February 25, 2019. A similar bill is expected to be filed in the
Georgia State Senate
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Legal provisions
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia ...
by Sen.
Bruce Thompson soon. During his campaign for Governor,
Brian Kemp
Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Kemp served as the 27th secretary of state of Georgia from 2010 t ...
, now the
Governor of Georgia
The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...
, "vow
dto sign the toughest abortion laws in the country" and when asked about litigation said, "bring it! I'll fight for life at the Capitol and in the courtroom." After being passed in the House on March 7, 2019, HB 481 was passed out of a Senate committee on March 18, 2019.
It was subsequently passed by the entire state Senate, after which it was narrowly passed by the House 92–78. The bill was signed by Governor Kemp on May 7, 2019, bringing into effect one of the strictest abortion laws in the country at the time.
The bill would prohibit abortions after a heartbeat can be detected in a conceptus, which is usually when a woman is six weeks pregnant.
Democratic opponent of the Georgia bill, former governal candidate
Stacey Abrams
Stacey Yvonne Abrams (; born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member ...
, called the bill a "forced pregnancy bill."
Idaho
Rep.
Gregory Chaney
Gregory Dallas Chaney (born July 21, 1981) is an American attorney and politician serving as a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives from the 10B district. He assumed office in 2014.
Early life and education
Chaney graduated fr ...
introduced HB 366 on April 13, 2021, that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The bill passed the house by a vote of 53–16 on April 16, 2021, and the senate on April 21, 2021, by a vote of 25–7 and was later signed into law by Governor
Brad Little
Bradley Jay Little (born February 15, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of Idaho since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Idaho from 2009 to 2019 and as an Ida ...
on April 29, 2021. The law included exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and when the mother's life is in danger. The law goes into effect if another similar ban is upheld by appellate court.
Iowa
On May 4, 2018, governor
Kim Reynolds
Kimberly Kay Reynolds (née Strawn; born August 4, 1959) is an American politician serving as the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Reynolds served as the 46th lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011 to 2017.
Bef ...
signed into law a bill that would ban abortion in Iowa after a fetal heartbeat is detected, starting July 1, 2018. On January 22, 2019, a county district judge declared the law to be in violation of
Iowa's State Constitution and entered a
permanent injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
prohibiting its enforcement.
''See'' the
Iowa Lawsuit section of this article under the
Legal challenges heading for more details related to the litigation over Iowa's fetal heartbeat bill.
Kansas
The bill was introduced and referred to committee in February 2013. The bill was presented to the Kansas house in March 2013.
The bill was known as House Bill 2324, "An act prohibiting an abortion of an unborn human individual with a detectable fetal heartbeat."
One outspoken advocate of such bills is
Mark Gietzen, who has tried to gather as many signatures as possible in order to get
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...
to convene a special session of Congress in order to consider the bill. Gietzen also advocated for a fetal heartbeat law to be passed during a special session of the Kansas legislature, to be held on September 3, 2013. HB 2324 died in committee in May 2014.
Kentucky
Two bills which seek to prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected have been filed in the
Kentucky General Assembly
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives.
The General Assembly meets annually in the ...
in 2019. Sen. Matt Castlen introduced SB 9 in the
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators. The Kentu ...
on January 8, 2019. On February 14, 2019, SB 9 passed out of the Kentucky Senate by a 31–6 vote. The bill was received in the House on February 15, 2019.
Damon Thayer
Damon Thayer (born September 16, 1967) is an American politician. He is a Republican member of the Kentucky Senate, representing the 17th District.
Thayer was raised in Grayling, Michigan. He graduated from Michigan State University in 1989 ...
, the Senate Republican
floor leader
In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature.
Philippines
In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...
said SB 9 "absolutely" was a priority for the chamber and said he would be delighted if it became law and ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court as a means to overturn to
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
"It would be the pinnacle of my career," he said.
On March 14, 2019, the Kentucky House passed SB 9 by a vote of 71–19. As of April 2019, the
ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
filed suit to challenge it and a federal judge blocked enforcement until the final ruling in district court.
A similar bill by Rep.
Robert Goforth
Robert Goforth (born February 27, 1976) is an American politician and pharmacist who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the 89th district from 2018 to 2021.
Early life and education
Goforth is from East Bernstadt, K ...
was introduced in the
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form ...
. The bill, HB 100, which was prefiled on December 13, 2018, was referred to the Health and Family Services Committee on January 10, 2019. When asked about the heartbeat bill, Rep. Goforth, who announced his candidacy for
Governor of Kentucky
The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-el ...
on January 8, 2019, the same day the bill was introduced, said he would be pleased if Kentucky or one of the other states considering similar measures enacted such a law and, in the event of court challenge, took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
.
Previous fetal heartbeat bills filed in Kentucky have failed to pass. A fetal heartbeat bill, HB 132, was introduced on January 7, 2014, by
Joseph Fischer. The bill was referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee on March 19, 2014, where the bill died. In 2013, Rep. Fischer introduced the same bill with the same bill number (Hb 132) on January 11, 2013. The bill was referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee on February 20, 2013, where the bill died.
Maryland
Two fetal heartbeat bills have been filed in the
Maryland House of Delegates
The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...
in 2019. On February 8, 2019,
Ric Metzgar filed HB 933. On February 8, 2019,
Robin L. Grammer, Jr.
Robin L. Grammer Jr. is an American politician who is currently a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing Maryland Legislative District 6, District 6 in southeast Baltimore County. He is a lifelong resident of Maryland and a member ...
filed HB 978, a bill entitled "Keep Our Hearts Beating Act."
Minnesota
On January 22, 2019,
Tim Miller filed HF 271 in the
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...
.
Mississippi
In 2018, three heartbeat bills were filed in Mississippi; all of which died in committee. In 2017, three heartbeat bills were filed in Mississippi; all of which died in committee. In 2014, Sen. Joey Fillingane, filed a heartbeat bill in the
Mississippi State Senate
The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
. The bill died in committee. In 2013, HB 6, was introduced in January and died in committee on February 5, 2013.
Another fetal heartbeat bill filed in 2019, HB 529 by
Robert Foster died the House Judiciary A Committee on February 5, 2019.
Three fetal heartbeat bills were filed in the
Mississippi Legislature
The Mississippi Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and the upper Mississippi State Senate, with 52 me ...
in January 2019.
SB 2116, by Sen.
Angela Burks Hill
Angela Burks Hill (born August 14, 1965) is an American politician who has served in the Mississippi State Senate
The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississip ...
was referred to the Public Health and Welfare Committee on January 11, 2019.
HB 732, by Rep.
Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...
was referred to the Public Health and Human Services Committee on January 17, 2019. After passing out of their respective committees on February 5, 2019,
both SB 2116 and HB 732, were passed out of the
Mississippi Senate
The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
and
Mississippi House on February 13, 2019. On March 19, 2019, the Senate concurred in the House amendments to SB 2116, and on March 22, 2019, the fetal heartbeat bill was signed into law by
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant
Dewey Phillip Bryant (born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 31st lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2008 to 2012 and 4 ...
.
Missouri
Two fetal heartbeat bills have been filed in
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
on January 9, 2019. SB 139 was filed in the
Missouri Senate
The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...
by Sen.
Andrew Koenig
Joshua Andrew Koenig (; August 17, 1968 – February 16, 2010) was an American character actor, film director, editor, writer, and human rights activist. He was known for his role as Richard "Boner" Stabone in ''Growing Pains''.
Early ...
; the bill is pending in the Health and Pensions Committee. HB 126 was filed in the
Missouri House of Representatives
The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...
by Rep.
Nick Schroer
Nick Schroer is an American politician in the Missouri Senate, representing District 2 in St. Charles County. He previously was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2016, 2018, and 2020 to represent House District 107. He won the R ...
. On January 30, 2019, HB 126 was referred to the Children and Families Committee, and on February 12, 2019, a public hearing on the bill was completed. On February 21, 2018, HB 126 was voted out of committee to the full House with the recommendation that it "do pass." On February 27, 2019, HB 126 was passed out of the Missouri House and was sent to the state Senate. Missouri's House Speaker
Elijah Haahr
Elijah J. L. Haahr (born May 28, 1982) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, for the 134th district from 2013 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Early life and educat ...
has said he supports the "heartbeat bill" calling it a top priority for the 2019 session. When asked if he would sign a fetal heartbeat bill,
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Mike Parson
Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of Missouri since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Parson served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011 and in the ...
said, "I've been pro-life my entire career, and I support that all the time."
The bill was signed on May 24, 2019, with an effective date of August 28, 2019. The bill bans abortions after 8 weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
North Dakota
North Dakota HB 1456 was signed into law in March 2013 by
Jack Dalrymple
John Stewart Dalrymple III (born October 16, 1948) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 32nd Governor of North Dakota from 2010 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th Lieutenant Govern ...
, who stated that it was "a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade." A federal district court found that it clearly violated the constitutional protections afforded in Roe v. Wade and it was quickly blocked.
In July of that year, a lawsuit had been filed with regard to the law by the
Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...
(CRR), on behalf of the only abortion clinic in North Dakota,
Red River Women's Clinic
The Red River Women's Clinic, located in Fargo, North Dakota, is the only abortion clinic in North Dakota. It began operating in 1998. The clinic's director is Tammi Kromenaker. In 2013, the Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproduc ...
. In July 2015, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the bill. The case was appealed to the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, but the court denied a writ of
certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
in January 2016 and let stand the decision of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ohio
In Ohio, a fetal heartbeat bill, HB 125, was co-authored by
Janet Porter
Janet L. Folger Porter (born October 13, 1962) is an American anti-abortion activist and author.
Biography
Porter founded the now defunct website ''ReaganBook'', and in 2003 the conservative Christian ministry Faith2Action. Porter is most known ...
,
was introduced in the state legislature in October 2011. The bill was shelved by the Republican majority Senate to avoid controversy. This bill was notably supported by
Jack Willke.
The original Bill was authored by
Janet Porter
Janet L. Folger Porter (born October 13, 1962) is an American anti-abortion activist and author.
Biography
Porter founded the now defunct website ''ReaganBook'', and in 2003 the conservative Christian ministry Faith2Action. Porter is most known ...
of Faith2Action; former Governor
John Kasich
John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...
vetoed it twice prior to its passing.
A related law was signed in Ohio in 2013 (HB 248) by
John Kasich
John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...
, which mandates, among other things, that doctors who do not test for a fetal heartbeat must be subject to criminal penalties; specifically, "The doctor's failure to do so would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to six months in jail, for the first violation and a fourth-degree felony, carrying up to 18 months in jail, for subsequent violations." A further fetal heartbeat bill, based on Porter's original,
was introduced on August 14, 2013, by
Lynn Wachtmann
Lynn Wachtmann (born December 24, 1954) is a former Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, who had represented the 81st District from 2007 to 2014. Prior to his term in the House, Wachtmann was a two-term state Senator, represen ...
and others.
On March 25, 2015, another heartbeat bill (House Bill 69) passed the Ohio House of Representatives. The Guardian reported that "The bill is unlikely to go any further, facing stiff opposition in the senate as well as from John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio."
On December 6, 2016, the Ohio Senate added a heartbeat ban provision to an unrelated bill
House Bill 493 previously passed by the Ohio House of Representatives.
The bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused on ...
was returned to the House and passed by the House the same day. The bill as passed would make abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat a fifth-degree felony except in cases where a physician judges the abortion 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." On December 13, 2016, Kasich vetoed the bill,
on the basis that it was
unconstitutional
Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
and would almost certainly be struck down if challenged in court. The
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met in ...
considered whether to override Kasich's veto, which would require a three-fifths vote in both the House and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. However, the House leadership opted not to call lawmakers back to Columbus before the end of the year, ensuring Kasich's veto would stand.
The bill passed the
Ohio Senate
The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...
with a vote of 21 yeas, out of 33 seats in the senate; it received 10 nays:
In the House of Representatives, the bill passed the
Ohio House
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met i ...
with a vote of 56 yeas, out of 99 seats in the house; it received 39 nays:
Two fetal heartbeat bills were introduced in the
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...
in 2019, marking the 133rd Session of the
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...
as the fifth time such legislation has been proposed in the state. On February 11, 2019,
Christina Hagan
Christina Marie Hagan-Nemeth (born December 11, 1988) is an American politician and former Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 50th district. She was the Republican nominee in the 2020 election to represent Ohio's 13 ...
and
Ron Hood
Ronald Edward Hood (born 1969) is a former Republican legislator in the Ohio House of Representatives. He represented the 78th District. He also represented, at various times, both the 57th and the 91st districts. Hood was a candidate in the 2 ...
filed HB 68, which was introduced in the
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met in ...
on February 12, 2019. On February 12, 2019,
Kristina Roegner
Kristina Roegner (born November 27, 1968) is an American politician who serves as a member of the Ohio Senate. She has represented the 27th senatorial district since 2019. Her district encompasses the majority of Summit County in Northern Ohio. ...
filed SB 23 in the
Ohio Senate
The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...
; the bill was referred to the Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee on February 13, 2019. On February 21, 2019, the President of the Ohio Senate,
Larry Obhof
Larry J. Obhof (born November 26, 1977) is an American attorney and politician, who served as a member of the Ohio Senate from 2011 to 2020. He also served as the President of the Senate from 2017 to 2020.
Early life and education
Larry Obhof w ...
pledged to pass SB 23 out of the upper chamber stating, "We are going to pass that bill by the middle of March. I have no doubt at all." On March 13, 2019, SB 23 was passed out of the Ohio Senate by a vote of 19 to 13. The next month, the Ohio House amended the bill, and passed it, 56–40; the changes were ratified in the Senate, 18–13. The bill was signed into law by Governor
Mike DeWine
Richard Michael DeWine (; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th and current governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, DeWine began his career as a prosecutor before being elected to the O ...
on April 11, 2019. On July 3, 2019, a federal judge blocked the implementation of the bill temporarily, just days before the law was to take effect.
Oklahoma
A fetal heartbeat bill (SB 1274) was signed into law by then-
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
governor
Mary Fallin
Mary Fallin (; née Copeland; born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 27th governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014. She was the first and s ...
in April 2012 that requires an abortion provider to offer a woman the opportunity to hear the conceptus's heartbeat before ending the pregnancy, and applies when the conceptus is at least eight weeks old. The bill took effect in November 2012.
Pennsylvania
A fetal heartbeat bill (HB 2315) was introduced in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.
It ...
on May 2, 2018, primarily sponsored by Rep
Rick Saccone
Richard Saccone (born February 14, 1958) is an American educator and politician who represented Pennsylvania's 39th district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he was his party's nominee for the March ...
. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee where it died.
South Carolina
State Representative John McCravy prefiled HB 3020 in the
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections.
Unlike many legislatures, seati ...
in December 2018. The bill, which is entitled "Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act", was introduced on January 8, 2018, and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Previous attempts to pass fetal heartbeat bills in the
South Carolina General Assembly
The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and t ...
had failed. The
State Senate
A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...
voted 30–13 on January 27, 2021, to pass the new ban. The law had exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk.
The state's Republican-controlled House had passed similar legislation in previous years. McMaster signed the bill into law on February 18, 2021, but it was blocked by U.S. District Court Judge
Mary Geiger Lewis
Mary Wallis Geiger Lewis (born December 18, 1958) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Early life and education
Lewis was born on December 18, 1958, in Columbia, South Caroli ...
a mere day later following a lawsuit by
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
and Greenville Women's Clinic.
In January 2023, the law was permanently overturned by the
state supreme court
In the United States, a state supreme court (known by #Terminology, other names in some states) is the supreme court, highest court in the State court (United States), state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of State law (United States), st ...
.
Tennessee
Two fetal heartbeat bills were filed in the
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...
in 2019. On January 23, 2019, by Rep.
James "Micah" Van Huss filed HB 77 in the
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Constitutional requirements
According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
. On February 7, 2019, Sen.
Mark Pody
Mark Allen Pody (born April 23, 1956) is an American politician, elected as a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Tennessee Senate from the Tennessee's 17th Senate district, 17th district, encompassing Cannon County, Tenness ...
filed SB 1236 in the
Tennessee Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...
. On February 20, 2019, HB 77 was passed out of a Public Health subcommittee and sent to the full committee. On February 26, 2019, the House Public Health Committee voted 15–4 to send HB 77 to the House floor for a full vote. On February 7, 2019, HB 77 was passed out of the Tennessee House by a vote of 66–21.
Texas
A fetal heartbeat bill was previously introduced in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
by
Phil King on July 18, 2013, in the wake of
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...
signing
Texas Senate Bill 5 Texas House Bill 2 (HB2) is a bill within the Eighty-third Texas Legislature, first introduced into the Texas Senate as Texas Senate Bill 5 (SB5) on June 11, 2013, related to abortion rights within the state. Among provisions include banning abortio ...
into law. The bill was not passed. The bill (HB 1500) is joint authored by Representatives
Phil King,
Dan Flynn,
Tan Parker
Nathaniel Willis "Tan" Parker IV (born May 22, 1971) is a businessman and Republican politician who has served in the Texas Senate, representing the 12th district since 2023. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2023. H ...
, and
Rick Miller. As of February 26, 2019, HB 1500 had 57 sponsors or cosponsors of the 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives. Former State Senator
Wendy Davis said HB 1500 is "the most dangerous I've ever seen."
On March 11, 2021, state senator
Bryan Hughes
Bryan Hughes (born 19 June 1976) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
He played as a midfielder from 1994 to 2015, notably Premier League for Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic and Hull City as well as featuring in ...
of
Mineola, Texas
Mineola is a city in the U.S. state of Texas in Wood County, Texas, Wood County. It lies 26 miles north of Tyler. Its population was 4,823 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
The town was incorporated as the railroads arrived in 1873. ...
, introduced a fetal heartbeat bill entitled the
Texas Heartbeat Bill
The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), is an act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law took effect ...
(SB8) into the Texas Senate and state representative
Shelby Slawson
Shelby Laine Slawson (born May 3, 1977) is an American attorney, businesswoman, and politician. She has represented the 59th District in the Texas House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Slawson also serves as an a ...
of
Stephenville, Texas
Stephenville is a city in and the county seat of Erath County, Texas, United States. It is on the North Bosque River, which forms nearby. Founded in 1854, it is home to Tarleton State University. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was ...
, introduced a companion bill (HB1515) into the state house.
It includes an exception for medical emergencies but includes cases where a woman or girl has become pregnant by incest or rape. Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 50th Tex ...
asserts that the Act will not force a woman who has been raped to carry a pregnancy to term because the state will "work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets."
The SB8 version of the bill passed both chambers and was signed into law by Texas Governor Abbott on May 19, 2021. It will take effect on September 1, 2021.
[Najmabadi, Shannon]
Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation's strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy
''Texas Tribune
''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events.
Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternativ ...
'', May 19, 2021. Rather than have the government enforce the law, private citizens will be allowed to sue the provider or anyone that helps the woman to get an abortion. Although similar, H.B NO 1515 is not to be confused with bill H.R 705, also known as the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2021, which was introduced to Congress on February 2, 2021, and sponsored by
Republican Mike Kelly. As both bill's note the criminalization of physician's performing abortions once a heartbeat is detected around the 6 week mark of a woman's pregnancy. The ''Texas Tribune'' wrote that "supporters of the bill hope this novel provision will trip up legal challenges to the legislation, as without state officials enforcing the ban, there will be nobody for pro-women's rights groups to sue".
A key aspect in the enforcement of the HB 1515 bill is connected to the cost of being sued. As listed in the introductory act, if an organization or individual were found guilty of assisting in an abortion, each individual would be fined a minimum of $10,000. In contrast to the H.R 705, the HB 1515 only mentions punishment through the $10,000 fines, whereas if found guilty under H.R 705, physicians are not only subject to receiving a fine, but are also subject to prison time as well.
According to some individuals associated with the support of HB 1515, the severity of the cost of being sued is intentional. John Seago, an active legislative director for Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, exemplifies this connection. Seago notes that the cost of getting sued can act as an incentive for abortion providers to avoid administering abortions. According to the ''Texas Tribune'', Seago said, "Have a public statement. Put it on their website that they're not scheduling appointments after six weeks", in doing so individuals associated with performing abortion halt their practice, and are no longer at risk for conducting the fine.
In June 2021, 18-year-old Paxton Smith, senior class valedictorian, delivered a high school graduation speech addressing the Texas heartbeat bill rather than the one which had been pre-approved by her school saying, "I cannot give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights." The speech went viral and was viewed by millions on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.
The bill was temporarily blocked by District Court Judge
Robert L. Pitman
Robert Lee Pitman (born 1962) is an American attorney and jurist who serves as a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and former United States Attorney fo ...
on October 6, 2021,
but reinstated by an appeals court panel on October 8.
West Virginia
Two fetal heartbeat bills have been introduced in the
West Virginia House of Delegates
The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates.
Organization
Regular sessions begin with ...
in 2019. On February 7, 2019, Ralph Rodighiero (D-
Logan
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gover ...
) filed HB 2903 entitled "The Fetal Hearbeat Act". On February 8, 2019, Evan Worrell (R-
Cabell Cabell is both a surname and a given name. The Cabell family has "been prominent in Virginia since the American Revolution." Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
* Charles P. Cabell (1903–1971), United States Air Force, CIA
* Earle Cab ...
) filed HB 2915.
Wyoming
A fetal heartbeat bill, HB 97, was introduced in the
Wyoming House of Representatives
The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 60 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state, each with a population of ...
in January 2013 by Representative
Kendell Kroeker
Kendell Kroeker is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives who represented District 35 from January 11, 2011, until December 23, 2016.
Education
Kroeker earned his BS from the University of ...
. In February 2013, the bill was struck down by a house committee in a 4–5 vote.
See also
*
Abortion in the United States
Abortion in the United States and its territories is a divisive issue in American politics and culture wars, with widely different abortion laws in U.S. states. Since 1976, the Republican Party has generally sought to restrict abortion ac ...
*
Abortion in the United States by state
The legality of abortion in the United States and the various restrictions imposed on the procedure vary significantly depending on the laws of each state or other jurisdiction. Some states prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy with few ex ...
*
Heart development
Heart development, also known as cardiogenesis, refers to the prenatal development of the heart. This begins with the formation of two endocardial tubes which merge to form the tubular heart, also called the primitive heart tube. The heart is the ...
Notes
References
{{abortion
2013 establishments in the United States
United States abortion law
Anti-abortion movement in the United States