Paul Ryan swears in Rep. Steve King.
Zach Gibson / AP
Rep. Steve King of Iowa on Tuesday pushed his bill banning abortion after a month and a half, standing with women who said they will send heart-shaped valentines to members of Congress.
The bill, known as a "heartbeat bill," would ban doctors across the country from preforming an abortion after a fetus' heartbeat was audible — on average around six weeks into pregnancy. Many women do not know they are pregnant until the second month of a missed period.
King at the news conference
Ema O'Connor/BuzzFeed News
Though the bill is unlikely to become law, it is the most extreme bill on abortion introduced since Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. King has called the decision "unconstitutional."
King introduced the bill on January 13, but held a press conference on Tuesday — the week of the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The limits it places on abortion violate the constitutional clause that prevents an "undue burden" from being placed on access to abortion, making it unlikely to get the votes it needs to become law.
"We stand here and assert that life begins at a distinctive moment. The most precise instant is the moment the heartbeat begins," King said Tuesday, stading with a woman holding a sign reading "My Abortion Hurt Me."
The bill says a provider “who knowingly performs an abortion and thereby kills a human fetus" would be fined or imprisoned for no more than five years — or both. The bill contains exceptions when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother — "but not including psychological or emotional conditions" that "arise from the pregnancy itself," such as severe depression or suicidal tendencies.
The law also does not contain exceptions for pregnancy by rape or incest, or for fetal abnormalities. It contains a clause that would ensure a woman who obtains an abortion after six weeks would not be punished, though her doctor or the person who provided her with medical abortion pills would.
A heartbeat bill passed by Ohio's congress in December caused uproar among Ohio's citizens as well as both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich said that "certain provisions" in the six-week ban were “clearly contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States’ current rulings on abortion," and vetoed it in favor of a 20-week ban on abortion instead.
Both Ohio and King's federal six-week ban were co-authored by anti-abortion and anti-LGBT rights activist Janet Porter — formerly Janet Folger. She authored the book The Criminalization of Christianity: Read This Book Before It Becomes Illegal!.
Porter on Tuesday said she and others will send heart-shaped valentines to congress to encourage them to vote for the bill.
Porter was formerly the legislative director for the Ohio Right To Life group, and had a radio program that was deemed "too extreme' by Christian talk radio, Mother Jones reported. In 2011 she brought two in-utero babies to "testify" before the Ohio House of Representatives via ultrasound.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2jtE3rC
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