![Louisiana governor signs heartbeat abortion ban into law](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/abortion-protest.jpg)
Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday signed a bill banning abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected by an ultrasound.
The exceptions to the abortion ban include situations to prevent the pregnant women’s death or a serious risk of impairment of major bodily function, or when the pregnancy is medically futile, but do not include pregnancy from rape or incest. Anyone in violation of the abortion ban will face up to two-year in prison, and physicians who violate the law will also face a medical license revocation.
Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia are the five states that have passed legislation to ban abortion from the point of a detectable fetal heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy.