Live Action Newsroom – April 27, 2021
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the governors of two states — Oklahoma and Idaho, respectively — signed ‘heartbeat bills’ into law. These laws protect preborn children from the moment a heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around five to six weeks gestation. Though the preborn child’s brain is the first organ to appear, the child’s heart begins to beat between 16 and 22 days after the moment of fertilization (when a new human life begins).
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed not just one, but three pro-life bills into law on Monday. HB 2441 is the ‘heartbeat bill’ which bans an abortion from the moment the embryonic heartbeat is detected, and does not offer an exception for the circumstances of a child’s conception (rape or incest). The two other new laws are HB 1102 — which classifies abortion as “unprofessional conduct” and any abortionist committing a medically unnecessary abortion will lose his or her license to practice for one year — and HB 1904, which requires that only board-certified OB/GYNs may commit abortions. One bill passed by the Legislature, SB 778, which would require the abortion pill to be dispensed only in person (according to longstanding FDA safety measures), still awaits the governor’s signature.
The bills would have gone into effect in November 2021, with or without the governor’s signature.
In Idaho, Governor Brad Little signed HB 366, the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act, into law on Tuesday. According to a tweet sent out by the governor’s office, the bill contains exceptions for medical emergencies and for children conceived in rape or incest.