Ohio House Passes "Heartbeat Bill"

By Irin Carmon  |  June 28, 2011 | 8:50pm
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The Ohio House has just passed 54-43 a bill that, if enacted into law, would be the most restrictive abortion law in the country. It’s a deliberate challenge to Roe that would ban abortion after the detection of the first heartbeat.

The standard set by Roe is viability. The time at which a heartbeat can be detected varies but can be as early as six weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant. The bill contains no rape or incest exceptions.

(This is the same bill where anti-choicers called a fetus to testify.)

Said pro-choice State Representative Connie Pillich on the floor, “The only jobs this bill will create is back alley butchers who are sharpening their knives,” according to Planned Parenthood of Ohio’s Twitter feed.

And another representative addressed anti-choice members: “You should feel uncomfortable about this vote. A fetus now has more rights than a woman.”

That too, was how constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe put it to ABC when the bill was first introduced: “What they’re doing is trying to push the point at which the woman’s rights are subordinated to those of the unborn to a much earlier point in pregnancy.”

Next up: the state senate, the governor’s desk — and if both pass it, the courthouse.

Ohio House Passes ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Bill [10TV]
Earlier: Fetus To Testify In Support Of Ohio Heartbeat Bill
Ohio Heartbeat Bill Attacks Roe v. Wade

 
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