This law topic summary was last updated on: October 26, 2017
Heartbeat bans attempt to outlaw abortions as soon as a heartbeat can be detected, which is often in the embryonic stage, as early as six weeks’ gestation, before many women even know they are pregnant. These laws, some of the most extreme in the country, are flatly unconstitutional because they seek to ban abortion months before the point at which a fetus is viable.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, made it clear that states may not ban abortion outright before the fetus is determined to be viable, recognized by the medical community as around 24 weeks’ gestation. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that states may not place an undue burden on a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Like laws that attempt to ban abortion at 20 weeks’ gestation, bills banning abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat are intended as a direct challenge to these U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Heartbeat ban bills first rose to prominence in Ohio in 2011, where anti-choice activist Janet Porter and her organization Faith2Action sent thousands of heart-shaped balloons to the Ohio statehouse on Valentine’s Day to thank legislators who sponsored HB 125, Ohio’s heartbeat bill. The bill was supported by Porter and her allies, as well as by numerous Republican legislators, led by Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon), who sponsored the bill.
Yet not everyone in the anti-choice movement supported the passage of the heartbeat bill. For example, prominent anti-choice activist James Bopp Jr. testified against the bill, expressing concerns that it would provide the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to strengthen Roe v. Wade. Ohio Right to Life, which also opposed the ban, believed that the heartbeat bill would sidetrack other anti-choice bills—like 20-week bans—that had a greater chance of being enacted. Ultimately, the Ohio heartbeat bill failed to pass, but it provided a blueprint for other states attempting to pass similar laws.
Examples of Heartbeat Bans (last updated October 26, 2017)
In 2013, two states ultimately succeeded in passing heartbeat laws. Both Arkansas and North Dakota passed heartbeat ban legislation prohibiting abortion early in the first trimester of pregnancy. Arkansas’ legislation required an abortion provider to use an abdominal ultrasound to detect a fetal heartbeat and banned abortion when the pregnancy has progressed to 12 weeks and a fetal heartbeat is detected. North Dakota went even further, passing the most stringent anti-choice legislation in the country—a bill that bans abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected using “acceptable medical practice,” which is approximately six weeks through the use of a transvaginal ultrasound.
Both laws were immediately challenged in court and blocked.
In May 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling blocking Arkansas’ law. In January 2016, The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, leaving the Eighth Circuit’s ruling in place.
Similarly, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision blocking North Dakota’s law in July 2015. As with Arkansas’ law, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case. The law remains permanently blocked.
In 2016, Ohio was also successful in passing a heartbeat ban. The heartbeat law prohibited any person from knowingly and purposefully performing or inducing an abortion on a pregnant patient with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of the “unborn human individual” the pregnant patient was carrying and whose fetal heartbeat had been detected. The bill did not include an exception for cases of rape or incest. Citing previous bans which had been struck down, Gov. Kasich (R) vetoed the legislation. However on the same day, Kasich signed a 20-week abortion ban into law.
Legal setbacks have not stopped anti-choice legislators from persisting in their attempts to pass these laws. Currently, in the 2017 legislative session, heartbeat ban bills have been introduced in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the U.S. Congress. If any of them pass, they will likely be struck down.
|Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act (SB 134)||SB 134||Arkansas||Jan 28, 2013||Blocked/Enjoined|
|Texas Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 59)||HB 59||Texas||Jul 18, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|North Dakota Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 1456)||HB 1456||North Dakota||Jan 21, 2013||Blocked/Enjoined|
|Ohio Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 248)||HB 248||Ohio||Aug 21, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 125)||HB 125||Ohio||Feb 24, 2011||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Omnibus Abortion Budget Bill (HB 59)||HB 59||Ohio||Feb 12, 2013||Current|
|Alabama Fetal Heartbeat Act (HB 490)||HB 490||Alabama||Feb 13, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Michigan Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 5643)||HB 5643||Michigan||Jun 10, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Michigan Bill Regarding Sentencing Guidelines Regarding Violations of Heartbeat Ban (HB 5645)||HB 5645||Michigan||Jun 10, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Michigan Bill Regarding Heartbeat Ban Penalty Provision (HB 5644)||HB 5644||Michigan||Jun 10, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Kansas Fetal Heartbeat Act (HB 2324)||HB 2324||Kansas||Feb 13, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|South Carolina Human Heartbeat Protection Act (S 623)||S 623||South Carolina||Apr 16, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Bill to Repeal Abortion Restrictions in Budget Bill (HB 280)||HB 280||Ohio||Oct 2, 2013||Proposed|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (SB 2807)||SB 2807||Mississippi||Jan 20, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (HB 6)||HB 6||Mississippi||Feb 5, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Human Heartbeat Protection Act (SB 297)||SB 297||Ohio||Mar 13, 2014||Proposed|
|Kentucky Heartbeat Ban (HB 132)||HB 132||Kentucky||Jan 7, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|South Carolina Human Heartbeat Protection Act (S 96)||S 96||South Carolina||Jan 13, 2015||Failed to Pass|
|Oklahoma Bill Amending Heartbeat Informed Consent Act (SB 606)||SB 606||Oklahoma||Feb 2, 2015||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 69)||HB 69||Ohio||Feb 17, 2015||Proposed|
|New York Fetal Heartbeat Ban (A 3725)||A 3725||New York||Jan 27, 2015||Failed to Pass|
|Michigan Human Heartbeat Protection Act (HB 4241)||HB 4241||Michigan||Feb 25, 2015||Failed to Pass|
|Alabama Fetal Heartbeat Act 2015 (HB 405)||HB 405||Alabama||Apr 2, 2015||Failed to Pass|
|Kentucky Fetal Heartbeat Bill (HB 132)||HB 132||Kentucky||Jan 11, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|New York Fetal Heartbeat Ban (A 8947)||A 8947||New York||Mar 4, 2014||Failed to Pass|
|Wyoming Fetal Heartbeat Bill (HB 97)||HB 97||Wyoming||Jan 25, 2013||Failed to Pass|
|Alabama Fetal Heartbeat Act (HB 21)||HB 21||Alabama||Feb 2, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Alabama Fetal Heartbeat Act 2016 (SB 9)||SB 9||Alabama||Feb 2, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Indiana Heartbeat Bill (SB 144)||SB 144||Indiana||Jan 5, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Indiana Heartbeat Bill (HB 1122)||HB 1122||Indiana||Jan 7, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Oklahoma Heartbeat Abortion Ban (SB 1118)||SB 1118||Oklahoma||Feb 1, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Ohio Heartbeat Bill (HB 493)||HB 493||Ohio||Mar 21, 2016||Failed to Pass|
|Oklahoma Heartbeat Abortion Ban (SB 710)||SB 710||Oklahoma||Feb 6, 2017||Proposed|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (HB 1198)||HB 1198||Mississippi||Jan 16, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (SB 2562)||SB 2562||Mississippi||Jan 16, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (SB 2584)||SB 2584||Mississippi||Jan 16, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|Tennessee Fetal Heartbeat Bill (HB 108)||HB 108||Tennessee||Jan 26, 2017||Proposed|
|Tennessee Fetal Heartbeat Bill (SB 244)||SB 244||Tennessee||Jan 31, 2017||Proposed|
|New York Fetal Heartbeat Ban (A 5384)||A 5384||New York||Feb 8, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|Missouri Fetal Heartbeat Bill (SB 408)||SB 408||Missouri||Feb 9, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|Alabama Fetal Heartbeat Act (HB 154)||HB 154||Alabama||Feb 9, 2017||Failed to Pass|
|South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat Bill (S 467)||S 467||South Carolina||Feb 23, 2017||Proposed|
|Michigan Bill Regarding Fetal Heartbeat (HB 4467)||HB 4467||Michigan||Mar 30, 2017||Proposed|
|Ohio Fetal Heartbeat Abortion Ban (HB 258)||HB 258||Ohio||Jun 6, 2017||Proposed|
|Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 490)||H.R. 490||Federal||Jan 12, 2017||Proposed|
|Missouri Fetal Heartbeat Bill (SB 714)||SB 714||Missouri||Jan 3, 2018||Proposed|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (SB 2143)||SB 2143||Mississippi||Jan 9, 2018||Proposed|
|Mississippi Heartbeat Ban (SB 2058)||SB 2058||Mississippi||Jan 3, 2018||Proposed|
|Mississippi Women’s Health Protection and Fetal Heartbeat Act (HB 226)||HB 226||Mississippi||Jan 2, 2018||Failed to Pass|
|Iowa Fetal Heartbeat Abortion Ban (SSB 3143)||SSB 3143||Iowa||Feb 5, 2018||Proposed|
|Iowa Heartbeat Protection Act (HF 2163)||HF 2163||Iowa||Jan 31, 2018||Proposed|
|Iowa Fetal Heartbeat Abortion Ban (SF 2281)||SF 2281||Iowa||Feb 14, 2018||Proposed|
|Tennessee Fetal Heartbeat Bill (SB 1961)||SB 1961||Tennessee||Jan 29, 2018||Proposed|
|Tennessee Fetal Heartbeat Bill (HB 1892)||HB 1892||Tennessee||Jan 25, 2018||Proposed|
Abortion is among the safest medical procedures in the United States. Yet, myths about its safety abound. False Witnesses reveals the individuals behind these lies.