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Fetal heartbeat abortion restriction introduced in state Senate

New measures would ban abortions after a doctor detects a fetus’s heartbeat.

Bills were introduced Wednesday in the state Senate.

A fetal heartbeat is usually detected at around 6 to 8 weeks. Currently, a woman can get an abortion up to around 24 weeks of gestation.

It’s one of a handful of bills introduced so far this session aimed at limiting access to abortion. And Governor Gretchen Whitmer has said that she would veto anti-choice bills that hit her desk.

Republican Senator Ed McBroom is a bill sponsor. He says he hopes Whitmer would change her mind.

      

“This is another attempt to validate the value of every human life.”

The bills would make it a felony for a physician to administer an abortion after a heartbeat has been detected. There is an exception if there is an emergency that puts the life of the mother at risk.