Ohio House passes heartbeat law over Kasich's opposition

On Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill that would outlaw abortion if a baby’s heartbeat can be detected. A baby’s heart begins to beat 18 to 25 days after conception, and an ultrasound can detect it after about six weeks.

Opposition to the bill came from the usual corners but also from some pro-lifers. Senate President Keith Faber, a Republican, said although he was personally “for all the concepts in the heartbeat bill,” he doubted it would survive a court challenge, adding to precedence and further entrenching abortion in the law.

“Are we jeopardizing the ability to save babies by passing that bill?” he asked, according to The Columbus Dispatch. North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed that state’s heartbeat bill into law two years ago yesterday, but a federal judge struck it down a little over a year later.

While some Ohio legislators called the bill “an abuse of power,” Republican Rep. Ron Hood, whose son was stillborn, shared a different perspective.

“My wife and I wanted our son to be alive—there are people who actually do this on purpose.”

Rep. Christina Hagan, also a Republican, added, “An unborn child has a beating heart. Should we allow that heart to be stopped?”

Even if the Senate passes the bill, which many pundits doubt, Ohio Gov. John Kasich likely would not sign it. He said he shared the same concerns as Ohio Right to Life, which calls the legislation “overreaching.”

In 2011, a similar bill passed the Ohio House by a 54-43 vote, but it later died in the Senate. In 2014, the heartbeat bill failed in the House 47-40. Lawmakers approved HB 69 on Wednesday by a count of 55-40.

The bill permits an exception to prevent the mother’s death or if the pregnancy poses a “serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman” but not in cases of rape or incest. Anyone convicted of violating the law, if passed, would be charged with a fifth degree felony, facing up to a year in prison and a fine of $2,500.