{"id":160328,"date":"2017-01-14T09:49:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T14:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=160328"},"modified":"2017-01-16T11:06:46","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T16:06:46","slug":"heartbeat-bill-introduced-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/heartbeat-bill-introduced-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill introduced in Congress would ban abortions after a preborn baby\u2019s heartbeat is detected"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On January 12, 2017, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) introduced a federal version<\/a> of “The Heartbeat Bill.” A press release<\/a> from King’s office explained [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Roe v. Wade was unconstitutionally decided in 1973, nearly 60 million innocent babies’ lives have been ended by the abortion industry<\/em>, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government,\u201d\u00a0said King.\u00a0\u201cHuman life, beginning at the moment of conception, is sacred in all of its forms and today, I introduced a bill that will protect the lives of voiceless innocents.<\/em><\/p>\n

My legislation will require all physicians, before conducting an abortion, to detect the heartbeat of the unborn child. If a heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected.<\/p>\n

America was founded on the concept that our rights come from God. All human persons have a right to life. How then could we confer that those rights allow the killing of a baby? …”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

King took to Facebook<\/a> to publicly commit himself to defending the most defenseless and to be a voice for those who are violently silenced every day in America, writing: “I believe our most important responsibility that God has bestowed upon us is to protect innocent human life, and I will continue to dedicate my life to that responsibility.”<\/p>\n

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is King’s co-sponsor on the bill. Franks has previously questioned<\/a>\u00a0his fellow members of Congress: “I beg you to open your own hearts and ask yourselves, \u2018What is so liberating about brutally and painfully dismembering<\/a> living, helpless, little human babies?'”<\/p>\n

For decades, science has known that a preborn child’s heart is\u00a0beating at 21 days, but according to one study<\/a>, the heart actually\u00a0begins to beat at 16 days. A scientific organization who has partnered with National Geographic<\/a>, The Endowment for Human Development<\/a>, produced the video below, showing the beating heart of a child very early on in pregnancy:<\/p>\n