Ohio Gov. John Kasich Vetoes Bill to Ban Abortions After Unborn Baby’s Heartbeat Begins

By Micaiah Bilger
Life News

Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed a controversial bill Friday that would prohibit abortions after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable.

The Republican governor, who vetoed similar legislation in 2016, said he rejected the bill based on the unlikelihood of it succeeding in a court challenge.

The AP reports Kasich explained Friday that he believes the bill would be struck down as unconstitutional before it could save any lives. He also said the legal challenge would cost taxpayers money.

“As governor I have worked hard to strengthen Ohio’s protections for the sanctity of human life, and I have a deep respect for my fellow members of the pro-life community and their ongoing efforts in defense of unborn life,” he said in a statement. “However, the central provision of Sub. H.B. 258, that an abortion cannot be performed if a heartbeat has been detected in the unborn child, is contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States’ current rulings on abortion."

“As the losing party, the state of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists’ lawyers,” Kasich added.

The bill passed the state legislature earlier this month. House Bill 258 would ban most abortions in Ohio by prohibiting abortions after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable. Research suggests a baby’s heartbeat may begin as early as 18 days after conception, but it typically is not detectable until around six weeks. The bill also would allow abortion practitioners to be charged with a felony for violations.

It is not clear if the state legislature has enough votes to override Kasich’s veto. Cleveland.com reports pro-life lawmakers would need at least two more votes in the state Senate to pass the bill without the governor’s support.

State Rep. Christina Hagan, a lead sponsor of the bill, previously said she wants the bill to pass now more than ever because of the likelihood of the U.S. Supreme Court upholding it, ABC News 22 reported earlier this month.

“Now is absolutely the time to pass the Heartbeat Bill,” she said, previously. “We need every minute and hour that we can get to send it to the right court makeup.

Meanwhile, abortion activists blasted the bill as “dangerous.” In a statement earlier this month, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio CEO Iris E. Harvey claimed it would restrict a woman’s “right to make personal health care decisions before she even knows she’s pregnant.” She neglected to mention that that decision involves the taking of another human being’s life, the woman’s own unborn baby.

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‘Pro-life’ John Kasich Threatens to Veto New Bill Banning Abortions on Babies with Heartbeats

By Calvin Freiburger
Life Site News

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a past and potentially-future Republican presidential candidate who bills himself as “pro-life,” has renewed his opposition to pending legislation that would protect almost all pre-born babies in his state.

On Thursday, the Ohio House voted 60 to 35 to pass House Bill 258, which bans abortions on any pre-born baby with a detectable heartbeat, except in cases of a “substantial and irreversible” physical threat to the mother. Any physician who violates the statute would face up to a year in prison. Pre-born babies’ hearts finish forming around seven or eight weeks into pregnancy.​​

“Establishing human heartbeat protections in Ohio is a historic opportunity for those committed to the cause of life,” Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati declared last week.

Kasich confirmed he remains opposed to the heartbeat bill during a meeting with reporters at the statehouse Monday, the Toledo Bladereports. 

“I see nothing that’s coming that would make me change my position,” he claimed.

Kasich vetoed a similar measure in 2016, claiming that while he’s pro-life he was unwilling to provoke a court battle over the bill’s constitutionality he deemed certain to fail. Pro-lifers argue the bill’s chances have improved thanks to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees. 

Pro-lifers also note that virtually every pro-life law, from ones protecting babies from being aborted because they have Down Syndrome to measures requiring abortion centers to meet basic health and safety standards, ends up being challenged in court anyway.

Several pro-life leaders have denounced Kasich’s resistance, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Faith2Action president Janet Porter, a longtime advocate of the legislation and its federal counterpart, declared that pro-lifers would “override him and he can never run again as a ‘pro-lifer.’”

“Kasich should be ashamed of himself,” Citizens for Community Values president Aaron Baer said. “He has the opportunity to save upwards of 10,000 lives per year, but is choosing to veto a law that Ohio clearly wants. Where’s the compassion in that?”

The bill’s fate appears beyond Kasich’s control, however. The Ohio House passed it with a large enough margin to override a veto, and Republicans outnumber Democrats 23 to 9 in the state Senate. Senate President Larry Obhof said he believes the bill has the votes to pass, but was unsure whether it will receive the 20 needed for a veto override.

“My anticipation is we’ll pass both and see how things unfold after that,” he said.

Another factor is that incoming Gov. Mike DeWine has previously said he supports the bill, making it likely to pass next year even if Kasich kills it in the coming weeks.

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Strong New Support for a Pro-Life Bill as US Catholic Bishops Endorse The Heartbeat Protection Act

By Calvin Freiburger
Life Site News

"A chorus of 60 million innocent heavenly voices, never heard in this world but heard beautifully and clearly in the next, plead with us to protect the lives of all innocents," he concluded. "We are called to join our voices together to raise them in an anthem for Life..." -Rep. Steve King, R-IA

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has endorsed legislation that would ban most abortions in the U.S., according to the bill’s lead sponsor. (Image via LifeSiteNews)

The Heartbeat Protection Act would require abortionists to first test whether a fetal heartbeat can be detected, and then forbid committing an abortion if the answer is "yes." It allows an exception only for life-threatening physical circumstances (expressly rejecting exceptions for "psychological or emotional" health). Physicians who break the law would face up to five years in prison and/or a fine; women seeking abortions would not be punished.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Steve King, R-IA, said in an Oct. 12 article that the USCCB has signaled its support for the measure.

"I made a trip to Kansas City to discuss H.R. 490 with Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who will soon chair the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, and set up a phone discussion on 'Heartbeat’ with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who agreed to speak with Cardinal Dolan, the current chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities," King wrote in the National Catholic Register.

"Work and prayers do yield results," he continued. "I can now announce the 'Heartbeat Protection Act' has earned the endorsement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops"... 

King then quoted from a letter by Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.

“It is also due to scientific advances that we have the tools to hear the early heartbeat of the growing child,” Dolan wrote. “Accordingly, the Catholic Bishops applaud your efforts to recognize and protect these little ones in law while emphasizing that we need to continue to work for the protection of all lives-including those tiniest persons before a heartbeat is detectable.”

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Congressman Shows Ultrasound of 18-Week-Old Unborn Baby During Hearing, Abortion Activists Look Away

"...but the ultrasound proves beyond any doubt that Life is present every time there is a Heartbeat."

By Steven Ertelt
Life News

During a Congressional hearing today on a bill to ban abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, a pro-life Congressman showed an ultrasound of an 18-week-old unborn baby. Congressman Steve King of Iowa showed the ultrasound and audio of the baby’s heartbeat.

During the footage, Rep. Pramila Jayapal can be seen frequently looking away from the screen and avoiding watching it. Meanwhile pro-abortion Yale Professor Priscilla Smith stares straight ahead pretty much the entire time the ultrasound is shown.

King’s office says it’s the first time an unborn babies has “testified” before Congress.

“On November 1, 2017, Chairman Steve King allowed the testimony of unborn child Lincoln Glenn Miller, via ultrasound, into the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Hearing on HR 490, the Heartbeat Protection Act. It is believed that Miller, aged 18 weeks, is the youngest person to ever offer testimony at a Congressional hearing,” King’s office said.

King said: “The 14th Amendment codifies the language of our Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson set up prioritized rights in our Declaration with this more familiar language, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” 

"In both cases, Life is the paramount right and cannot be taken without due process. Liberty is a right secondary to Life. No one in exercising their right to Liberty has a legitimate Constitutional or moral claim to take the Life of another."

"The question before us, since America has held the right to Life as a sacred right from God (endowed by their Creator), the question before us is not, “Can the Lives of innocent babies be taken in exercising the right to the Liberty of the mother?” But rather, “At what instant does Life begin?” Science cannot precisely pinpoint the instant of conception but the ultrasound proves beyond any doubt that Life is present every time there is a Heartbeat."

"The promises of our Founding Fathers must be restored to the voiceless and most vulnerable. Liberty can never again become the excuse to take the Life of another.”

Website: Life News 

Rep. Steve King Files Federal Pro-Life Heartbeat Bill: ‘If a Heartbeat Is Detected, the Baby Is Protected’

By Neil McCabe
Breitbart

Pro-life congressmen stood in front of the Capitol — along with Janet Porter, the Ohio woman who led the fight for passage of that state’s “heartbeat bill” — all in support of Rep. Steve A. King (R.-Iowa) and his Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017, H.R. 490, which restores legal protection to unborn children once their pulse is detected.

“It is a profound religious and moral understanding that every human person has the right to life,” said King, who was joined by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R.-Texas), Rep. Trent Franks (R.-Ariz.), Rep. Scott G. Perry (R.-Pa.), and Rep.Don Bacon R.-Neb.), along with other prolife supporters of the bill.

“The question that has hung before the courts, since 1973 is: ‘When does life begin?’–we all know when that is,” the congressman said.

"We stand here and assert that it has to be a distinctive moment. You can’t guess a thing called viability. You can’t say 22 weeks versus 20 weeks. You have to say it is at a specific instant. The most precise instant that we can describe and that we can identify by science is the moment that that heartbeat begins,” he said.

"The core tenet is this: If a heartbeat can be detected, the baby is protected,” he said.

King, who is the chairman of the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, said the only exception to the protection for the unborn in the bill is for those circumstances when the life of the mother is in physical danger.  Abortionists who violate the law would face up to five years in prison, he said.

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