Ohio Heartbeat Bill Passes Committee

Despite opposition even from anti-choice activists, the "Heartbeat" abortion ban passes out of committee in Ohio on a tight vote.

The Ohio legislature voted a ban that would outlaw virtually all abortions out of committee today, despite my predictions (and, if I do say so myself, excellent list of reasons why) they shouldn’t.

Via Forbes:

A state House committee on Wednesday narrowly approved a bill that would impose the strictest abortion limit in the nation, outlawing the procedure at the first detectable fetal heartbeat.

The Health Committee voted 12-11 to approve the so-called Heartbeat Bill. The bill would need to be approved by the House, where its future is uncertain.

NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, who was tweeting from the committee hearing, noted that the committee tied in the initial voting.  It was only later committee members who didn’t attend the hearing voted that they were able to finally get a majority to pass.

The bill will now get to the House.  With Ohio Right to Life unhappy with the ban, it’s still not entirely certain that the bill will ever become law.