Pro-life “Heartbeat” Bills Seek to Rein In Abortion Across U.S.

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In what may end up being one of the most significant challenges to the ongoing slaughter of unborn children in America since Roe v. Wade, states across the country are working to protect pre-born children who are old enough for their heartbeats to be detected. In practice, such laws could eliminate most surgical abortions perpetrated in the United States. Ohio just signed a “fetal heartbeat” measure into law last week. Mississippi and Kentucky did the same last month. Lawmakers in Georgia just passed one, too. But the battle is just getting started, with pro-abortion groups trying to stop it while even some pro-life critics question the strategy. Eventually, the measures will likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, which despite its lawless usurpation in Roe v. Wade, still has no constitutional jurisdiction over state abortion laws.

Each of the bills making their way through state legislatures contains its own unique elements. But they all hold that an unborn baby’s heartbeat, which can be detected around six or seven weeks into a pregnancy, is enough to show that the child is a “person” with a God-given right to life deserving of protection under the law. More than a few critics have complained that criminalizing murder at some arbitrary point in human development — whether that be at heartbeat, or the second trimester, or even birth — still allows the murder of children to continue. And it is indeed true that some unborn babies will still be slaughtered. But advocates of the heartbeat bills are hoping to protect more children than are currently being protected, while mounting a legal challenge to the increasingly discredited and unpopular 1973 Supreme Court ruling purporting to overturn many state abortion laws across the country.

Among the first states to move a so-called fetal heartbeat bill was Arkansas. In early 2013, the legislation passed overwhelmingly — 68-20 in the House and 26-8 in the Senate — before being vetoed. The legislature subsequently overrode the governor’s veto, again by massive margins. However, the increasingly lawless federal courts struck it down, ludicrously claiming it was “unconstitutional” for a state to protect the life of unborn children. Another early adopter of the measure was North Dakota, which voted overwhelmingly to criminalize the murder of unborn babies after their heartbeats could be detected. And again, a rogue federal judge struck it down. And the U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by pro-abortion activists, refused to hear the case, allowing the decision of lower courts based on Roe v. Wade to stand.

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But now, with the addition of President Donald Trump’s two selections to the high court, and potentially more on the way, the calculus may have changed. It remains unclear how Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh may rule. Despite being marketed to Americans as pro-life justices who would uphold the Constitution, which delegates no power to the feds over abortion laws, both justices have been relatively non-committal on this issue. Both even claimed Roe v. Wade was “settled law,” as if the court, and not elected legislatures, had the constitutional power to make law. But there is widespread hope among the pro-life movement that when these abortion cases eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court again, the atrocity unleashed on America almost 50 years ago may finally be set right.

Since those early heartbeat bills were blocked by rogue judges, numerous other states have passed similar legislation in recent years. In early 2019, for example, Kentucky lawmakers overwhelmingly approved such a law. Senator Damon Thayer, the Republican Senate floor leader, said it would be “the pinnacle of my career” if the law made it to the Supreme Court and helped overturn Roe v. Wade. Tax-funded pro-abortion forces, though, knew what was going on. “SB 9 is intended to ban almost all abortion in the commonwealth,” complained Tamara Wieder with Planned Parenthood, which receives massive tax subsidies and murders more unborn children in America than any other abortionist organization.

Other states that have approved heartbeat laws include Mississippi, Iowa, Ohio, and North Dakota. Georgia just passed similar legislation this month. But despite promising on the campaign trail to “sign the toughest abortion laws in the country” and to “fight for life at the Capitol and in the courtroom,” Republican Governor Brian Kemp has not yet indicated whether he intends to sign the measure. Numerous other states including Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Missouri, Minnesota, Maryland, and more are considering the legislation as well. And a barrage of lawsuits demanding the unrestricted ability to massacre unborn children are currently making their way through state and federal courts, primarily relying on the half-baked Roe v. Wade opinion purporting to identify a right to “privacy” for murdering babies in the “penumbras” of the Constitution.

Despite brazen pro-abortion bias in the establishment media and in government schools, the culture appears to be becoming increasingly pro-life. And the recent legislation in New York purporting to legalize the murder of babies even as they are being born — one leading women’s rights activist told The New American it was “more hideous” than the atrocities perpetrated by Communist Chinese population-control officials — has stirred outrage and horror nationwide. When the scandal-plagued Democrat governor of Virginia suggested that the decision to murder the children could even be made after birth, even die-hard abortion activists struggled to spin it. And now, the public is becoming ever more hostile to the unrestricted slaughter of unborn children unleashed by the Supreme Court.

This is happening even in Democrat states. According to a recently released Marist poll, abortion after 20 weeks is opposed by an overwhelming three out of four New Yorkers, with 71 percent supporting a total ban on killing babies after 20 weeks. Those figures include seven in 10 Democrats, three fourths of independents and about nine out of 10 Republicans. At the national level, the numbers are similar. About two thirds of New Yorkers (including most Democrats) said they believe abortion in the third trimester, when the baby is typically fully viable, ought to be generally illegal. Less than one third thought it should generally be legal. Gallup polls have found that an overwhelming majority of Americans — more than two thirds — support far more restrictions on the murder of children.

But the other side is fighting back hard — and often with the unfair advantage of the American people’s own tax money, billions of dollars of which have been funneled to Planned Parenthood over the years by Congress and state governments. One organization that is defending the right to keep killing babies, Obama’s “Organizing for Action,” for instance, is using the heartbeat bills to push redistricting that progressives hope would severely limit the ability of conservatives and pro-life advocates to win elected office. Citing Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s signing of a heartbeat bill, OFA “Digital Director” of its “All on the Line” project Erika Sanchez suggested that “moderate” Ohio voters did not approve. Same in Georgia.

“But with Republicans in gerrymandered districts leading the way, that’s what these moderate states will get — representatives who push extreme, far-right policies because they’re more worried about a primary than a general election,” Sanchez said, as if criminalizing murder was a “far-right” policy rather than what voters in state-wide races supported at the ballot box. “It’s up to us to fight back and change the system — fair districts will help us elect representatives who will actually listen to the voters they represent and reflect the will of the people.” Of course, the effort to redraw districts to favor fringe left-wing “progressives” who support unrestricted baby-killing is a key goal of the establishment, but killing more babies is just one part of the broader agenda.

Even some pro-life critics of the measure, such as the South Carolina-based Christians for Life and Liberty, have spoken out loudly against heartbeat bills. In an e-mail sent out earlier this year about the legislation in Ohio, the group blasted what it described as “incrementalist child-murder regulation” that “incrementally regulates the murder of unborn children in the womb.” Instead, citing the Bible, the group called on lawmakers across America to “establish justice for all pre-birth human beings at fertilization.” Virtually all principled pro-life activists agree that human life ought to be protected from the moment of conception. However, there remains much disagreement on the appropriate route to get there, as lawless federal courts continue striking down common-sense bills to rein in the slaughter. Even if heartbeat measures still allow killings to continue, the legislation humanizes the victims, advocates say.

One viable solution to the ongoing slaughter was introduced regularly into Congress by then-Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), who as a doctor delivered thousands of babies and as a lawmaker developed a reputation for always upholding the U.S. Constitution. “It is long past time that Congress exercises its authority to protect the republican government of the states from out-of-control federal judges,” Dr. Paul explained when introducing the bill one year. “The only way to resolve controversial social issues like abortion and school prayer is to restore respect for the right of state and local governments to adopt policies that reflect the beliefs of the citizens of those jurisdictions.” The legislation, dubbed the “We The People” Act, would simply point out that federal courts were never granted any jurisdiction over abortion, “sexual orientation,” or many other powers reserved for the states and the people. That would instantly overturn Roe v. Wade while allowing states’ laws criminalizing and punishing baby murder to go back into effect. State leaders are also working to nullify the outlandish decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court never had the authority to legalize murder in the states in the first place. And now, some 60 million Americans have been brutally slaughtered as a result. Marriage has been undefined to the point of meaninglessness. Bible and prayer has been banned in government schools. And the out-of-control court is still busy burning down America’s liberties and heritage as fast as it thinks it can get away with it. Congress must do its constitutionally prescribed job and rein in the courts. And in the meantime, states should continue doing what they can to protect life through nullification of unconstitutional acts and all other means available.

Image: vchal via iStock / Getty Images Plus

Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American who covers a broad range of topics. He can be reached at [email protected] or through Liberty Sentinel Media. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU or on Facebook.