NewsA controversial abortion bill known as the “heartbeat bill” passed through the Ohio House of Representatives Thursday with a vote of 58-35.
The bill seeks to prohibit any abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before many know they are pregnant. It provides no exceptions for rape or incest.
The text of the bill also controversially refers to a fetus as an “unborn human individual,” and defines this explicitly as “an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth,” also a point of contention to pro-choice advocates.
The bill will go to the Ohio Senate for a vote. While Ohio governor John Kasich rejected a similar bill in 2016, Ohio governor-elect Mike DeWine has said he is likely to sign it.
