A Michigan state lawmaker wants to “right an incredible wrong” by passing legislation to ban abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable.
Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, introduced the pro-life legislation Tuesday. His bill, similar to legislation introduced in 2019, would prohibit abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy, and create felony charges with jail time for abortionists who violate the law.
“This is about protecting unborn babies once they have a detectable heartbeat in the womb,” Carra said Tuesday. “We have an opportunity in Michigan to right an incredible wrong. This idea that a life, an innocent life, can be taken is unconscionable, and society needs to do to Roe v. Wade what Brown v. Board of Education did to Plessy v. Ferguson.”
Carra acknowledge that, if his legislation passes, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a pro-abortion Democrat, will veto it. He said lawmakers still need to do the right thing.
“If the governor is going to veto it, that’s on her. We should still do our job as a legislature to protect life,” he said.
The Michigan health department reported 29,669 abortions in 2020.
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The Michigan political arm of Planned Parenthood quickly bashed the pro-life bill, claiming that protecting unborn babies from violent abortion deaths is “barbaric.”
“The state will see even more egregious and kind of barbaric bans on abortion in the state of Michigan now, because folks are emboldened by what they saw happen in Texas and by the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene,” said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications and marketing for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan.
On Sept. 1, Texas became the first state in the U.S. to be allowed to enforce a heartbeat law. In the past two months, pro-life leaders estimate the law has saved more than 3,000 babies’ lives.
However, pro-abortion groups and the Biden administration are suing the block the Texas law, and the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to consider their request.
About a dozen other state heartbeat laws have been blocked in court. Since 1973, the Supreme Court has forced states to legalize abortion on demand under Roe v. Wade. States that want to protect unborn babies may only do so once they reach the point of viability, currently about 22 weeks. Roe made the United States one of only seven countries in the world that allows elective abortions after 20 weeks.
Many states are trying to challenge this precedent by passing laws that ban abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable and other pro-life legislation.
On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a Mississippi case to consider “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortion are unconstitutional.” The state law at issue in the case prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.