Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a “heartbeat bill” Thursday that will make abortion illegal in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
“I am very pro-life, always have been,” Bryant, a Republican, said after signing the legislation. “I think obviously we’ll have some legal challenges on it. We have legal challenges with every pro-life bill that we have ever passed. We anticipate that. We hope that it will get to the Supreme Court and they will uphold it.”
Women in Mississippi will no longer be able to have an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy once the law takes effect July 1. Pro-choice group Center for Reproductive Rights called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and threatened to sue the state, Fox News reported.
“We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, ‘I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action,’” Bryant tweeted Wednesday in response to the group.
We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, “I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action.” https://t.co/4bHEmCqN74
— Phil Bryant (@PhilBryantMS) March 20, 2019
Several other state legislatures, such as in Kentucky and Tennessee, have considered similar bills.
If an abortion is performed after approximately six weeks, under the law, the physician responsible could have his or her medical license revoked.
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