The Human Heartbeat Protection Act….what a great name for a bill and it protects children from abortions after 12 weeks. I really like what the Republicans in Arkansas are doing, even overriding a veto by the governor on this bill that is guaranteed to save lives – no doubt about it. And this is just after they passed a ban on abortions post 20 weeks.
This is fantastic:
NEW YORK TIMES – Arkansas adopted what is by far the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion on Wednesday — at 12 weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can typically be detected by abdominal ultrasound.
The law, the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, was passed by the newly Republican-controlled legislature over the veto of Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The State Senate voted Tuesday to override his veto and the House followed suit on Wednesday, with several Democrats joining the Republican majority.
The law contradicts the limit established by Supreme Court decisions, which give women a right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks into pregnancy, and abortion rights groups promised a quick lawsuit to block it. Even some anti-abortion leaders called the measure a futile gesture.
Adoption of the law, called the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, is the first statewide victory for a restless emerging faction within the anti-abortion movement that has lost patience with the incremental whittling away at abortion rights — a strategy used by groups like National Right to Life and the Catholic Church while they wait for a more sympathetic Supreme Court.
“When is enough enough?” asked the bill’s sponsor in the legislature, Senator Jason Rapert, a Republican, who compared the more than 50 million abortions in the United States since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. “It’s time to take a stand.”
Just speculation here, but I wonder if Arkansas is pushing so hard on abortion right now in part to try and get a case into the Supreme Court while there is still a chance to get Roe vs Wade overturned, especially given that Obama has another 4 years and will likely appoint new justices in that time frame. Whatever their reasons are, The Right Scoop applauds them for standing up for life.