Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine kept his promise and signed the heartbeat bill, which bans abortions if an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected. This usually takes about 6 weeks and may occur before some women even know they are pregnant. Many women find out they are pregnant around the 7th or 8th week of pregnancy.
While pro-life advocates are joyful that Ohio is the latest state to pass one of these laws, it’s worth noting that it faces legal action. Even before the bill was signed into law, the ACLU, an abortion advocacy group, was preparing to challenge it in the courts. This is a trend with heartbeat bills that have passed in other states, including Iowa and Kentucky, where they have been blocked. A bill in Georgia also awaits the governor’s signature. In fact, heart rate laws have not yet been adopted in any state where they have been passed. Should pro-life advocates place their hopes on such bills, or should they temper their expectations?
“The Pulse Law is the next step in our overturn strategy Roe v. Wade,” he said Ohio Right to Life Mike Gonidakis. If this is the case, we should pray that the U.S. Supreme Court does not use such provisions to further strengthen the already tight framework that states must currently work within.
It’s questionable how much hope one can have, especially when the Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining liberals on the Court, temporarily blocked Louisiana’s abortion law from going into effect. The bill, signed by a Democratic governor and sponsored by a Democratic state representative, was intended simply to regulate abortion facilities and required abortion providers to have hospital admission privileges. The Court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016.
North Dakota passed a heart rate law back in 2013. It was, like other heart rate laws, blocked by lower courts. It is worth noting that the Supreme Court in 2016 refused to hear the case, which meant its final discontinuation.
Is it time for the Supreme Court to change its mind and hear the heartbeat law case? Five states later, the Supreme Court may have to step in. It is worth considering whether enough has changed since 2016.
Perhaps that is why the bishops of Tennessee it worked out against consideration of a heart rate law in this state. Could anyone accuse the Catholic Church of not being pro-life? At least not seriously. These bishops are wise to worry. DeWine’s predecessor, Republican Gov. John Kasich, vetoed the heartbeat bill twice for similar reasons. Like the Tennessee bishops, Governor Kasich remains pro-life; he believed that vetoing the legislation would protect the state from having to pay legal fees to pro-abortion groups.
Before heartbeat laws became a trend, common sense 20-week abortion bans and widely supported abortion laws banning mid-pregnancy abortions were when unborn babies may feel pain. There are late-term abortions mainly done ON fit women who have fit fetuses, but they are also like that significantly perilouseven deadlyfor women and their prohibition is supported by a majority of Americansincluding those who identify as pro-choice. The United States is one of only seven nations which allows elective abortions beyond 20 weeks. China and North Korea are also on this list. We’re not in good company. Although the previously Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a federal 20-week ban, it failed in the U.S. Senate. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, reintroduced it.
Unfortunately, North Carolina’s 20-week ban has just been found unconstitutional by a federal judge. If I see any abortion bills heading to the Supreme Court, it’s these 20-week bans.
Abortion advocates accuse abortion advocates of trying to ban abortion altogether, rather than trying to repeal it Roe v. Wade with more gradual restrictions and regulations on abortion, which has greater support and which has been the focus of states’ attention. But as states like New York and Virginia pass or consider extreme legislation allowing abortion up to birth and even infanticide, other more pro-life states feel the need to go in the opposite direction. Both sides are considered extreme, much to the liking of the American public, which, although it considers abortion “morally wrong,” generally yes limiting it After first trimester or 12 weeks.
One sec Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, AND Planned Parenthood v. Casey still constitute the law of the land, the abortion movement has an unfair advantage. I long for the day when this will no longer be the case. When the day comes when the United States Supreme Court can allow states to decide their own abortion laws so that pro-life legislatures can truly protect the most innocent, defenseless and helpless among us, I look forward to bills like this one, which will last until the constitutional collection.
