Pro-Lifers Urge Kasich to ‘Return to Pro-Life Roots’ and Sign Heartbeat Bill

The Ohio Legislature has once again sent its controversial pro-life “heartbeat bill” to Gov. John Kasich’s (R-OH) desk, and its drafters are confident that it will be the “arrow in the heart of Roe v. Wade.”

House Bill 258, which would prohibit abortions in Ohio after the unborn child has a detectable heartbeat, passed the Ohio Senate Thursday in a vote of 18-13. Kasich, who is expected to veto the bill, reportedly plans to delay taking any action until the end of his allotted ten-day period, which would force lawmakers to hold an override vote during the week of Christmas.

But as Dayton Daily News reports, many Republican legislators already have vacation plans and might not be available to return to Columbus for a vote. Republicans would also need to rally the support of at least two more legislators in the Senate and seven more in the House in order to reach the necessary thresholds for overriding Kasich’s veto.

“I have no joy in having to veto stuff, but I’m not going to sign stuff that I don’t agree with in a deep way,” Kasich said of the bills heading to his desk .

But Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action who initiated the first heartbeat bill in Ohio, is urging Kasich to “return to his pro-life roots.”

“I call on Gov. John Kasich to return to his pro-life roots and sign the bill to protect the children in our state whose hearts beat like an SOS cry for protection,” she said in a press release, indicating that she expects the battle over the heartbeat bill to eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“With the confirmation of Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, the Ohio heartbeat law will be upheld as Constitutional by a Supreme Court that will welcome it,” she said. “To deny a human heartbeat is to deny science. To ignore it is heartless.”

According to NBC, the ACLU is planning to immediately file a lawsuit if the heartbeat bill does become law, and the case would then be heard by a court of appeals. It could take years for the case to reach the Supreme Court, and that’s assuming the high court decides it wants to take the case, Drexel University Professor David Cohen told NBC.

But pro-life Ohioans can take some consolation in Gov.-elect Mike DeWine (R-OH), who’s said that he would sign the heartbeat bill if given the opportunity.

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Janet Porter” by Rosa Hopkins. Photo “John Kasich” by Gage Skidmore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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