Free Republic

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds made it official today, signing the heartbeat law to protect babies from abortions. The legislation will save thousands of lives annually by protecting babies at a point when they have a heartbeat. “All life is precious and worthy of the protection of our laws,” Reynolds said when signng the bill. “The Heartbeat Bill is now the law of the land! Despite the abortion industry’s best attempts, Iowa is protecting the most innocent and defenseless lives!” she added. Video Player 00:00 02:38 The Iowa General Assembly passed the bill late Tuesday night in a special legislative session....

Planned Parenthood has quietly changed its website to match comments Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made Thursday about fetal heartbeats. Abrams said Thursday that "there is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks," adding, "It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman's body." Planned Parenthood changed its website without any acknowledgment of modifications to say that under the five- to six-week mark of pregnancy, "a part of the embryo starts to show cardiac activity. It sounds like a heartbeat on an ultrasound, but it's not a...

Two religious leaders plan to join a lawsuit filed by a synagogue in Boynton Beach, Florida against a state law banning abortion at 15 weeks gestation. The two leaders, one Unitarian and one Buddhist, will argue that the law violates the state Constitution’s right to privacy and freedom of religion (via NBC): The retired Unitarian Rev. Harris Riordan and the Buddhist minister Maya Malay confirmed they will file a lawsuit in state court next week, echoing arguments from Rabbi Barry Silver. Silver intends to file his own amended complaint next week along with Rabbi Arthur Wascow, the founder and director...

section class="post-body"> The US Supreme Court handed down a long-anticipated decision called Whole Woman’s Health vs. Jackson this morning.By way of background, on September 1, S.B. 8, the so-called “heartbeat bill” went into effect in Texas. The law had some unique features. First and foremost, it outlawed abortion after the point of a detectable fetal heartbeat. This was a clear challenge to the whole inhumane sham structure of abortion jurisprudence brought into existence by Roe vs. Wade. However, the most interesting feature was creating a private right to action to enforce the law. That means anyone can bring a lawsuit...

n Friday evening, a federal appeals court reinstated Texas’ “heartbeat” abortion law after a lower court issued an injunction blocking the enforcement of the law this week, as Rebecca reported. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay, halting U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s ruling on Wednesday which granted a temporary injunction over the law, S.B. 8. S.B. 8, which took effect on Sept. 1, bans abortions statewide once fetal heartbeat is detected. Following Pitman’s ruling, at least six clinics in Texas resumed providing abortion services past the six-week threshold, which is around the time a fetal heartbeat...

FULL TITLE: 'View' Hyperventilates Over Heartbeat Law: GOP 'Trying to Set Women Back 75 Years' 'Barefoot and Pregnant!' Monday at The View, the hosts opened by fretting about access to abortion, after Georgia was the latest state to pass a bill which bans abortions after a woman is six weeks pregnant and a fetal heartbeat can be detected. After actress Alyssa Milano tweeted that women everywhere should go on a “sex strike” in protest, the co-hosts argued about this approach and the “war against women:” “Let’s talk about why are men having such a war against women? Why is the...

With “Hollywood” the industry so often stretching well beyond “Hollywood” the town – especially given that stretching increasingly reaches Georgia – about 50 actors including Amy Schumer, Amber Tamblyn, Alec Baldwin, Don Cheadle, Rosie O’Donnell, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Essence Atkins, Uzo Aduba, Gabrielle Union, Christina Applegate, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, David Cross, Mia Farrow, Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford has signed a letter written by Alyssa Milano in opposition of the state’s so-called “heartbeat” anti-abortion bill The letter was sent Thursday morning to Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia governor Brian Kemp, but has been circulating on social...

Actress Alyssa Milano is going after Georgia again on Twitter, this time over the “heartbeat” abortion bill passed by the Georgia state Senate Friday afternoon. “There are over 20 productions shooting in GA” she wrote late Friday, “& the state just voted to strip women of their bodily autonomy. Hollywood! We should stop feeding GA economy.” Milano ( “Charmed,” “Project Runway All Stars”) stars in Netflix’s dark pageant comedy “Insatiable,” which debuted last year. Season two is currently in production and she was on set Friday in Atlanta. She plays Coralee Huggens-Armstrong,the wife of lead Bob Armstrong, played by Dallas Roberts. She is under contract and her...

ATLANTA: Shortly after a Georgia Senate panel approved a proposal early Monday that would ban most abortions after six weeks, protestors erupted in chants as the bill's sponsor and those who voted in favor of the measure left the committee room. Chanting "shame" and "no safe seats" as Republican lawmakers were escorted by police to an elevator, abortion rights advocates vowed to continue to fight House Bill 481, which would outlaw abortions once a doctor detects a heartbeat in the womb. If it passes, it would be among the strictest abortion laws in the country. Current Georgia law allows abortions...

Mississippi’s Republican governor signed one of America’s strictest abortion bills on Thursday banning women from obtaining an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can often occur before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. Dubbed the ‘heartbeat bill,’ this is the second legislative attempt in less than a year aimed at restricting abortions in a state with a single abortion clinic. In a tweet earlier this week, Governor Phil Bryant thanked the state’s legislature for “protecting the unborn” by passing the bill and sending it to him for his signature.

Gov. Phil Bryant says he’s not worried about lawsuits as Mississippi prepares to enact one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. The Republican governor is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday to outlaw most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights calls it “blatantly unconstitutional” and says it will sue Mississippi to try to block the law from taking effect on July 1. Mississippi is one of several states considering similar bills this year. Abortion opponents are emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court...

Ohio's "heartbeat bill," which would have prohibited killing unborn children with a detectable heartbeat, went down in flames on Thursday after the Senate failed by one vote to override Gov. Kasich's heartless veto of the bill. The bill passed both chambers earlier this month — the House by a comfortable majority and the Senate 18-13 — but Kasich followed through on his promise to veto the bill. In Ohio, a three-fifths majority is required to override a veto, which meant that two additional votes were needed in the Senate. The Ohio House voted earlier today to override Kasich's veto 61-28,...

Many media commentators are warning readers about a new Ohio bill because it could prevent women from obtaining abortions before they know they’re pregnant. But in the process of doing so, they’re making a pro-life message go viral: Abortion stops a beating heart.On Dec. 12, the Ohio Senate made national headlines for approving abortion legislation, known as the “heartbeat bill” or H.B. 258, which would ban the abortion of unborn babies with a detectable heartbeat. Republican Gov. John Kasich has promised to veto the bill – which resembles one he vetoed in 2016. But that didn’t keep the media, from...

COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio Senate passed The Human Heartbeat Protection Act, also known as the “Heartbeat Bill,” by a vote of 18 to 13 yesterday. HB 258 bans abortions on babies when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually within a few weeks of conception. Liberty Counsel has offered free legal defense once it is signed into law. Prior to the floor vote, the Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee added two amendments to the bill. One amendment removed the mandate for transvaginal ultrasounds, which can pick up a heartbeat as early as six weeks, and instead simply...

Oh, John Kasich, how many times you have betrayed your party, your state, and your country — so many that we've lost count. The most recent entry to the list is the Ohio governor's announcement that he will veto two bills that are near and dear to the hearts of conservatives who propelled him to victory in 2010 and 2014: The aptly named "heartbeat bill" and "stand your ground" legislation. Kasich told reporters outside his office Monday that he opposes both bills. If Kasich follows through with the veto threat, this will be the second time in two years he's...

Ohio lawmakers on Thursday passed controversial legislation that aims to block women from getting an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Thursday's 58-35 vote marked the second consecutive session in which the House passed the bill. It passed the House and Senate in December 2016, but was vetoed by GOP Gov. John Kasich. “The point is, it’s time. It doesn’t matter if the governor is with us or against us,” one of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Christina Hagan (R), said. Governor-elect Mike DeWine (R) has said he would sign a so-called “heartbeat” bill,...

On December 13, Ohio Governor John Kasich (shown) vetoed the Heartbeat Bill, which would have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Kasich’s veto was of the “line-item” type and was accomplished by means of “veto messages” that disapproved of two items contained in Amended Substitute House Bill 493. The “heartbill bill” — as the abortion ban was commonly called — was part of Item Number 1. In his message, Kasich offered the following explanation for vetoing that portion of the appropriation bill: As governor I have worked hard to strengthen Ohio’s protections for the sanctity of human...

'Governor isn't as committed to life as he professes to be' Prominent evangelical Christian leader Dr. James Dobson pulled no punches Wednesday after Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed the “Heartbeat Bill” – issuing a blistering attack on Kasich for his “cowardice” and “shameful action.” “I join with millions of evangelicals and Catholics in condemning Gov. John Kasich’s veto of the bill,” Dobson wrote on his website. “This was a cowardice and shameful action.” The “Heartbeat Bill” would prohibit abortions in cases where a baby’s heartbeat can be detected along with any procedures performed after six weeks of pregnancy. Kasich did...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) on Tuesday signed into law a measure banning abortions 20 weeks after conception, but vetoed a measure that would have outlawed abortion after as few as six weeks.   The bill Kasich vetoed, known as a “heartbeat” bill, passed Ohio’s legislature along mostly partisan lines last week and would have made abortions illegal once a fetus's heartbeat is detected. But even groups that oppose abortion rights believed the measure would fail in the face of an expected court challenge; Ohio Right to Life asked Kasich on Monday to veto the bill. Lower courts have struck...

CNN)Donald Trump's election, and a presumption that he'll appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, spurred Ohio Republicans to pass what would effectively be the nation's strictest time-based abortion law, a legislator said. Ohio lawmakers on Tuesday passed a controversial "Heartbeat Bill" that would ban abortions in that state from the moment the heartbeat of a fetus can be detected -- which usually occurs about six weeks into a pregnancy. What happens next for the bill, which would prohibit such abortions even in cases of rape or incest, depends on Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has 10 days to decide whether to...