The governor of Georgia signed into law one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. The sponsor of an anti-abortion bill in Ohio made headlines by falsely claiming that it’s possible to transplant an ectopic pregnancy into the uterus. And the Alabama state Senate erupted in shouting after Republicans removed exceptions for rape and incest from an anti-abortion bill. All these developments happened just this week, a new level of activity in a year that has already seen a raft of abortion restrictions pass — and some states move to shore up abortion access in response. Anti-abortion groups and legislators have been backing more aggressive restrictions since President Trump’s election, but their efforts have ramped up in 2019. Four “heartbeat” bills, like Georgia’s, that would ban abortion as early as six weeks, have passed this year alone, and total bans on abortion are under consideration in Alabama and elsewhere. Meanwhile, supporters of this kind of legislation have stated openly that their goal is to challenge Roe v. Wade. “The gloves are off” among abortion opponents, Kristin Ford, the national communications director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Vox. “They feel like they have the wind at their backs and they don’t have to dance around their true intentions anymore.” Abortion rights supporters have backed legislation of their own, including efforts in New York and Virginia to lift some abortion restrictions. These efforts, too, have generated debate as state abortion laws become an increasingly visible part of the national conversation. The Georgia ban, like others of its kind, will likely be challenged in court. But the fact that it was signed in the same week that nationwide controversy broke out on restrictions in at least two other states is a reminder that the abortion debate has reached a place that’s unprecedented in recent memory, with multiple states poised to outlaw the procedure as the federal protections enshrined in Roe hang in the balance. State legislatures around the country are introducing stricter and stricter anti-abortion laws During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. So after he took office, abortion opponents in state legislatures began passing increasingly restrictive abortion laws, attempting to ban the procedure at 15 weeks or even earlier. They were responding to the prospect of a friendly Supreme Court, as well as Trump’s appointments of anti-abortion judges to lower federal courts. After Justice Brett Kavanaugh, widely seen as a potential deciding vote to overturn Roe, was confirmed in October 2018, restrictions began to proliferate even more. “State legislators around the country are taking signals from Trump being in the White House and Kavanaugh being on the court,” Rachel Sussman, the national director of state policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood Act, told Vox in April. The result has been a growing number of bills around the country that would ban abortion in almost all cases, subjecting doctors and, potentially, women themselves to criminal prosecution. Some of these bills go further than ever before (at least in recent memory) in restricting abortion, while others may be based on inaccurate medical information. They’ve generated not just intense debate but also some confusion as residents and even advocacy groups try to figure out what the bills would actually do. Here’s a breakdown of the abortion restrictions that have captured the most attention in recent days: Georgia’s “heartbeat” law With Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature on Tuesday, Georgia became the fourth state this year to pass a “heartbeat” bill, which bans abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected. This can be as early as six weeks’ gestation, before many women know they are pregnant. The bill contains exceptions for medical emergencies, as well as for rape and incest, but someone who wanted to obtain an abortion after rape would have to file a police report. The Georgia law became the focus of nationwide attention prior to its passage, when celebrities including actress and #MeToo advocate Alyssa Milano spoke out against it. Several TV and film production companies have responded to the ban by announcing they will cease operations in Georgia, which had become a popular site for filming due to its tax incentives, according to NBC News. The law also gained added attention on Tuesday when Mark Joseph Stern of Slate reported that it could lead to criminal prosecutions for women who perform their own abortions using drugs, who miscarry, or even who travel out of state to have abortions. But reproductive rights groups aren’t sure if the law would in fact be used in this way. “It seems to be a stretch to what’s actually in the law and I’m really confused as to whether or not this would be possible,” Elizabeth Nash, the senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, told Vox. Though some anti-abortion lawmakers, notably in Texas, have recently called for criminal prosecution of women seeking abortion, most anti-abortion groups have historically been against the idea. For example, the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life opposes “the use of the criminal law to punish women for any acts during pregnancy toward their unborn child,” Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel for the group, told Vox. He called the notion that the Georgia bill could be used to prosecute women “ludicrous,” arguing that “there’s a long tradition in Georgia law that women can’t be prosecuted for abortion.” Meanwhile, some abortion rights advocates say the bill is concerning enough regardless of whether women can be charged under it. “We know that doctors could face serious jail time; we know that women would have to have this police report if they were claiming an exception,” Ford said. “There’s a lot to be really concerned about on the face of the bill.” Ohio’s ban on insurance coverage for abortion A bill recently introduced in Ohio in April would ban most private insurance coverage of abortion. It gained added attention this week when Jo Ingles of the Ohio radio station WOSU reported on an unusual provision: The bill allows insurance companies to cover “a procedure for an ectopic pregnancy that is intended to reimplant the fertilized ovum into the pregnant woman’s uterus.” An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube rather than in the uterus. Such pregnancies are almost never viable, and the only reliable treatment is an abortion, as Kayla Epstein reports at the Washington Post. It is not possible to remove the egg from the fallopian tube and reimplant it into the uterus. If left untreated, an ectopic pregnancy can be fatal. It is not clear why the bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Becker, chose to include a provision in the bill for coverage of a procedure that, as Epstein points out, does not exist. Becker has not responded to Vox’s request for comment. But the provision may speak to a larger issue with the bill. Because it bans coverage for “drugs or devices used to prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum,” reproductive rights groups say it could eliminate coverage for some forms of contraception, like birth control pills or IUDs. Becker told WOSU that his bill was not intended to target birth control. “When you get into the contraception and abortifacients, that’s clearly not my area of expertise,” he said, before speculating that “if it were true that what we typically know as the pill would be classified as an abortifacient, then I would imagine the drug manufacturers would reformulate it so it’s no longer an abortifacient and is strictly a contraceptive.” As New York Times editorial board member Lauren Kelley noted earlier this week, the Ohio bill isn’t the first anti-abortion measure to stand on shaky medical ground. Eric Johnston, an attorney who helped draft the Alabama bill, told AL.com in March that “a man and woman can have sex and you can take her straight into a clinic and determine an egg and sperm came together.” In fact, as Kelley has written, the most sensitive pregnancy tests cannot detect anything until about a week after fertilization.<doc-sep>“Our position is just simply that the unborn child is a person, and the bill goes directly to that,” Mr. Wingo said. “Courts can do — and have done — many things good and bad, but we would hope and pray that they would go and that they would overturn Roe.” The differing tactics of abortion opponents have been on display this year, as new abortion restrictions have sped through statehouses in the South and Midwest. On Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia signed a so-called heartbeat bill that essentially bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — a time when many women do not yet know they are pregnant. Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have passed similar laws this year, and legislators in South Carolina and Tennessee considered comparable restrictions. Other states have taken more limited steps. Arkansas reduced by two weeks the time frame in which a woman can have an abortion legally. Missouri legislators have been considering an array of new limits. “This legislative session could turn out to be the most harmful for women’s health in decades,” said Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The proposal in Alabama, where voters amended the state Constitution last year to declare that the “public policy of this state is to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life,” is the latest far-reaching measure with a reasonable prospect of passing. On Wednesday, a committee of the State Senate sent the measure on to the full Senate, after amending it to include exceptions for cases of rape or incest — exceptions that were not in the version of the bill the State House passed. The House version allowed an exception only in the case of a “serious health risk” to the mother.<doc-sep>"The bills prohibit abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. But reproductive rights advocates and doctors say the laws, which prohibit abortion before many women know they are pregnant, amount to a near-total ban on the procedure. Vox : " The 'heartbeat' bills that could ban almost all abortions, explained " — "Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed into law a so-called 'heartbeat' bill, banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Georgia is the fourth state to pass such a law this year alone. Mary Ziegler , professor at Florida State University College of Law. Author of "After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate" and "Abortion in America: A Legal History, Roe v. Wade to the Present." ( @Mary_zieglerfsu ) Georgia is the latest state to effectively ban abortions as soon as a heartbeat is detectable, which typically occurs about six weeks into pregnancy. We look at similar bills and laws in other states, and the legal challenges already in the courts. "'It’s basically a forced pregnancy bill. It’s a health care ban bill,' said Dr. Krystal Redman, the executive director of Spark Reproductive Justice Now, a group that works on reproductive rights and other issues for women of color and queer and trans people in the South. "But for some supporters of the bills, banning nearly all abortions isn’t a problem — it’s the whole point." Kaiser Health News: "‘Heartbeat Bills’ Give State Lawmakers Pause On Anti-Abortion Tactics" — "In anticipation of a new anti-abortion tilt on the Supreme Court bench, some states are moving to further restrict the procedure during the first trimester of pregnancy or to outlaw abortion entirely if Roe v. Wade ever falls. But the rush to regulate has exposed division among groups and lawmakers who consider themselves staunch abortion opponents. "On Thursday, Ohio became the latest state to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. For a long time, Ohio Right to Life supported a more gradual approach to restrict the procedure and deemed what’s come to be called a “heartbeat bill” too radical — until this year. Restricting abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected basically bans the procedure after six weeks of gestation — before many women know they’re pregnant. "'We see the court as being much more favorable to pro-life legislation than it has been in a generation,' spokeswoman Jamieson Gordon said. 'So we figured this would be a good time to pursue the heartbeat bill as the next step in our incremental approach to end abortion-on-demand.' " CNN: "Courts say anti-abortion 'heartbeat bills' are unconstitutional. So why do they keep coming?" — "Time and again, when it's introduced in a state legislature, the bill is touted as the most restrictive in the nation. It's often referred to as a 'heartbeat bill' and seeks to ban abortions at the time when a fetus' heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — before many women even know that they are pregnant. "But just as often as they are introduced, these bills get stymied. They are held up in committees, rejected in legislative votes, vetoed by governors and struck down in courts. Not one state has managed to put a heartbeat bill into lasting practice. In the past few weeks alone, lawmakers in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Minnesota and Tennessee introduced fetal heartbeat legislation. "Meanwhile, on January 22, an Iowa judge struck down its state heartbeat bill, declaring it unconstitutional. "That decision happened to come down on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. So what is going on? If the bills flatline over and over again, why do lawmakers keep revitalizing them?" Grace Tatter produced this hour for broadcast.<doc-sep>
Conservative governors and legislators are using new highly restrictive abortion laws to get abortion back in front of what they believe is the most friendly U.S. Supreme Court in decades. Sixteen states have passed or are scrambling to pass bans on abortion after a doctor can detect what they call "a fetal heartbeat in the womb," usually about six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. That includes Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a "heartbeat bill" into law on Tuesday. Separately, the Alabama Senate is poised to vote this week on legislation that could become the nation’s strictest abortion law, making it a felony to receive an abortion. Full coverage of Alabama’s abortion debate In a countermove, lawmakers in a growing number of states are racing to amend state constitutions to provide a backstop for the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. Vermont on Tuesday passed a bill that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, with similar legislation in the works in 12 other states, including New Mexico, Nevada and Rhode Island. With the end of the state legislative season in sight, politicians on both ends of the political spectrum are preparing for the issue to come before the Supreme Court. Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Education and Defense Fund, which opposes abortion, said bills that ban abortion after six weeks "lay the groundwork for pushing the envelope of life even farther" and that the antiabortion movement is looking to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett Kavanaugh to provide a resolution to the debate that has divided America for decades. "What we'd like to do is change the culture so that no family facing this situation would think of the option of abortion," he said. The American Civil Liberties Union and other critics including medical lobbies have called bans on abortions after six weeks - which have been struck down by at least two courts - draconian, unscientific and part of a deliberate strategy to pass increasingly radical laws in hopes of getting the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court. They have vowed to bring a lawsuit targeting the legislation - and promised electoral payback as well. Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in an interview that the Georgia legislation is part of a larger landscape of nearly 300 antiabortion bills introduced so far this year in 36 states. Many of them contain far-reaching provisions, such as one in Georgia that would allow authorities to investigate women who miscarry and one in Texas that would allow capital punishment for those receiving or performing an abortion. "This is an extremely dangerous time for women's health all around the country," Wen said. Georgia, which previously banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, is the fourth state to enact a six-week ban in 2019. Similar "heartbeat" bills are in the works in 10 other states - Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina and West Virginia - according to the Guttmacher Institute. A federal judge has already blocked Kentucky's law. Other courts struck down similar laws that were recently enacted in Iowa and North Dakota. Signing the bill in Georgia on Tuesday, Kemp said he is upholding his promise to enact the "toughest abortion bill in the country." "Georgia is a state that values life," Kemp said before putting his signature to the Life Act. "We stand up for those who are unable to speak for themselves." Doctors who oppose the legislation say that what appears to be a heartbeat at six weeks is simply a vibration of developing tissues that could not exist without the mother. That vibration is a medical term called "embryonic cardiac activity." The Georgia bill made national headlines after actress and women's rights activist Alyssa Milano hand-delivered a letter to Kemp's office last month to protest it. The letter was signed by 50 celebrities who vowed to boycott the state, which has a growing television industry, if the bill was signed into law. Like some other versions, Georgia's law includes exceptions for incest, rape and situations of medical futility or where the health of the mother is at stake. But unlike the others, Georgia's says a fetus is a "natural person" and "human being" once a heartbeat is detected.