N. Alabama lawmaker considers fetal heartbeat abortion bill

timesdaily.com ^ | Tue Jan 27, 2015. | Mary Sell Montgomery Bureau

[Morgana]

MONTGOMERY – State Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, says she is considering bringing back this year legislation that says an abortion can’t be performed if a fetal heartbeat can be heard.

The legislation makes it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion if a heartbeat has been detected. Medical experts say a heartbeat can be detected around six to eight weeks.

The restrictive and controversial legislation has been tied up in legal fights other states, but Collins said this week she is looking for another angle, with new and different language.

“We’re trying to see what the courts have said and maybe work out a better approach,” said Collins, a former board member for the Decatur Sav-A-Life. “Of all the pro-life legislation, this makes the most sense to me. If no heartbeat is a sign of no life, then a heartbeat is a sign of life.

“I’ve begun discussing it with some people,” Collins said. “Sometimes you can change the langue that is exceptional and go at it another way.”

Current law allows for abortions at up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Last year’s heartbeat bill, which passed the House but died in the Senate, would have required that the physician document the procedure used to determine a heartbeat. Not determining the presence of a heartbeat or performing an abortion when a heartbeat has been determined will be a Class C felony, according to the legislation, unless the abortion was medically necessary because the woman’s life or health were at risk.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis heard arguments earlier this month about North Dakota’s 2013 fetal heartbeat bill. A U.S. District Court judge in Bismarck ruled the law unconstitutional in April 2014, the Associated Press reported.

[Usagi_yo]

The ‘Quickening’ standard?

[SkyDancer]

Week six, month two.