‘Heartbeat bill’ protecting preborn children signed into law in Mississippi
3/21/19, 4:57 p.m. EST: Governor Phil Bryant has signed Mississippi’s heartbeat bill into law.
UPI.com reports Bryant’s comments on the law: “We think this is showing the profound respect and desire of Mississippians to protect the sanctity of that unborn life whenever possible. It also protects, we believe, the physical and mental health of the mother. We here in Mississippi believe in protecting and defending the whole life of that child.”
3/21/19, 11:36 a.m.: On Tuesday, the Mississippi Senate approved final language for a “heartbeat bill,” which will make abortion illegal in the state once a preborn child’s heartbeat is detected, possibly as early as six weeks gestation. The bill passed 34-15. Last week, the Mississippi House passed amended language, as both the House and Senate bills needed to have identical language before heading to Governor Phil Bryant’s desk. Bryant has said he will sign the legislation.
Bryant noted on Twitter of the bill, “I look forward to signing it very soon.”
Thank you to the Mississippi Legislature for protecting the unborn by passing the Heartbeat Bill (SB 2116) and sending it to my desk for signature. I look forward to signing it very soon.
Pro-abortion groups have already threatened legal action if Bryant signs the bill, claiming on Twitter that the term “heartbeat bill is a manipulative misnomer.” According to the Associated Press:
Mississippi enacted a law last year to ban abortion after 15 weeks. The only abortion clinic in the state filed a lawsuit and a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional. The state has asked a federal appeals court to overturn the ruling.
The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights represented the Mississippi clinic in the lawsuit over the 15-week abortion ban. It issued a letter Tuesday saying the new bill is unconstitutional.
“It disregards women’s fundamental right to determine when and whether to have children, poses a serious risk to women’s health and creates harmful liabilities for physicians,” said the letter signed by two attorneys for the center, Shivana Jorawar and Elisabeth Smith.
The AP notes that an abortionist found to be in violation of the law “could face revocation of his or her medical license,” adding that abortion would still be allowed “if a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life or one of her major bodily functions.” It would not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
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We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, “I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action.”
Center for Reproductive Rights
@ReproRights
The term “heartbeat bill” is a manipulative misnomer. These bills actually rob women of their choice to have an #abortion before they even know they’re pregnant. We'll sue Mississippi if @PhilBryantMS signs SB 2116 into law. @AP@EWagsterPettuswashingtonpost.com/national/missi…
“Heartbeat bill” is not a manipulative misnomer, as the Center for Reproductive Rights claims. A preborn child’s heart begins beating between 16 and 21 days, but cannot be heard until weeks later. A living human being is killed in an abortion.
According to Life Site News, Planned Parenthood seems to be claiming that women will die if they can’t have abortions:
Felicia Brown-Williams, Mississippi director of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates (PPSEA), complained that “in effect, the Mississippi Legislature just outlawed abortion for most Mississippians,” which she claimed would be “absolutely devastating for the people of this state” because “[p]eople die every day in Mississippi because they lack access to health care.”
But abortion is never medically necessary. And deliberately killing human beings is not healthcare.
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