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Unborn Heartbeat Bill Advances in Louisiana

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Published May 18, 2012

A bill to allow a woman to hear the heartbeat of an unborn fetus before having an abortion is working its way through Louisiana's legislature, CBN News reports. A state committee has overwhelmingly approved the measure, authored by Democratic State Sen. Sharon Weston Broome. Broome said her proposal mirrored a Texas law that requires doctors to conduct a sonogram, describe the fetus and play a fetal heartbeat for women seeking abortions -- a law which was also upheld by the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. Although Broome's bill does not require a woman to see the ultrasound or hear the heartbeat, opponents still say it goes too far. "[It] is bordering on emotional abuse and physical battery of the mother," said state legislator Jackie Hawkins. Supporters of the bill, however, say it is crucial to provide women with such information. "An abortion has serious consequences for both child and his or her mother," W. "Al" Krotoski testified to the committee. "There can be no legal or meaningful legal right for an abortion without appropriate knowledge or consideration being given to what is being done." Another bill currently being heard in the Louisiana legislature would ban abortion 20 weeks after conception.