Pro-Life Win: Governor Announces Plan To Sign Bill Banning Abortion When Heartbeat Is Detected
Let’s face facts: This year hasn’t been particularly kind to pro-lifers thus far.
The biggest atrocity has been with New York’s Orwellian-named Reproductive Health Act, which allows for abortion up until the moment of birth — something the state celebrated by lighting up One World Trade Center in pink in honor of the fact that babies can be killed more easily.
As for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and a similar bill that was proposed in his state, I don’t know if you can count it as a win that the governor’s political career has been more or less derailed because of a series of events that started with his heinous comments about third-trimester abortion.
However, most people seem to forget about the infanticidal remarks and have instead focused on the idea that he’s an idiot racist — which may be true, but maybe not the only takeaway we should be focused on.
And then there was Supreme Court Justice John Roberts disappointing conservatives yet again, joining the court’s four liberals to block a Louisiana law that would have required abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.
Well, at least there are some victories to celebrate — namely, a new Mississippi law that would ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat except in extreme cases.
“Except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with this section, no person shall perform an abortion on a pregnant woman before determining if the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying has a detectable fetal heartbeat,” the Mississippi Senate bill reads in part.
“Any person who performs an abortion on a pregnant woman based on the exception in this section shall note in the pregnant woman’s medical records that a medical emergency necessitating the abortion existed.”
“Except as provided in paragraph (b) or (c) of this subsection (5), no person shall knowingly perform an abortion on a pregnant woman with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying and whose fetal heartbeat has been detected according to the requirements of subsection (3) of this section.”
Doctors are protected “if that person performs a medical procedure designed to or intended, in that person’s reasonable medical judgment, 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 of the pregnant woman.”
As The Christian Post noted, the bill doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest.
Both houses of the Mississippi legislature have passed the bill and Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has indicated he’ll sign the legislation into law.
Mississippi House and Senate Pass Heartbeat Bill; Gov. Phil Bryant Says He Will Sign Legislation Into Law https://t.co/goUvYF06LH pic.twitter.com/6P8TkaFK9F
— BCNN1 (@bcnn1) February 15, 2019
“I’ve often said I want Mississippi to be the safest place for an unborn child in America. I appreciate the leadership of the MS House and Senate, along with members of the legislature, for passing the fetal heartbeat bills today. I look forward to signing this act upon passage,” Bryant said in a Wednesday tweet.
I’ve often said I want Mississippi to be the safest place for an unborn child in America. I appreciate the leadership of the MS House and Senate, along with members of the Legislature, for passing the fetal heartbeat bills today. I look forward to signing this act upon passage.
— Phil Bryant (@PhilBryantMS) February 13, 2019
Whether or not this stands up in court, however, is another issue entirely. A 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi was struck down by a federal court in November of last year.
“The record is clear: States may not ban abortions prior to viability,” U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves wrote in his ruling, according to The Associated Press.
The group that challenged the last law — the Center for Reproductive Rights — indicated it would be challenging the new Mississippi law.
Last November, a federal judge struck down Mississippi’s 15-week ban, calling the law “unequivocally” unconstitutional. Now, the state is pushing an even more extreme measure, a 6-week abortion ban, in an attempt to eliminate abortion access in the state entirely.
— Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) February 16, 2019
As The Washington Post notes, decisions over the next few years could end up dramatically reshaping the legal landscape regarding abortion in the United States.
Over 20 cases are likely to go before the Supreme Court — any one of which, according to the Post, has “the potential to be decided in ways that could significantly change the rights laid out in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, and refined almost two decades later in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.”
Could the Mississippi case be one of them?
It’s certainly shaping up that way — and it could hand pro-lifers a major legal victory.
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