What is the Heartbeat Bill?

Texas recently passed the Heartbeat Bill. It is a controversial bill in the United States. The bill bans abortions after the heartbeat of the embryo is detected. It is usually detected after 6 weeks of gestation.

Which states have passed Heartbeat Bill?

North Dakota became the first state in the USA to pass the Heartbeat Bill. However, the Supreme Court of the US held the law unconstitutional.

Later several other states passed the law. This includes Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky. However, the federal courts of the states have blocked the law temporarily. These states are in the Bible Belt of US.

What is Bible Belt of US?

The southern region of the United States are socially conservative. In these states, the church attendance is higher than the nation’s average.

Controversies

• Many women are unaware of their pregnancies at six weeks. Most of them have an abortion only after six weeks.
• The Center for Reproductive Rights says that these laws are inconsistent. It is a global legal advocacy organisation that aims to advance reproductive rights (such as abortion). The organisation works to make reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right.
• At the stage of six weeks, the embryo isn’t a foetus and doesn’t have a heart. The bill still bans abortion at such early stages. An embryo becomes a foetus only in the eleventh week of pregnancy. However, the heart beat of the foetus can be heard in early stages, that is around six weeks.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021