Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) re-introduced H.R. 175, “Heartbeat Protection Act,”legislation that would prohibit abortions when an unborn child’s heartbeat is detected. The bill, which Rep. Kelly previously introduced in the 117th Congress, is co-led by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Kat Cammack (R-FL) and has 62 original co-sponsors.
“Our founders understood that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our most fundamental rights. First among these is life,” Rep. Kelly said. “The Heartbeat Protection Act ensures the most vulnerable among us have the same life-affirming protections that every other American enjoys. I’m proud to be leading this bill again with my good friends Chris Smith and Kat Cammack, and I am committed to working every day to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Children may be only 25% of our population, but they are 100% of our future.”
“Science has made the humanity of unborn children more visible and irrefutable than ever before as we now know that unborn babies have a functional and detectable beating heart at 6 weeks gestational age—and maybe even earlier,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “As society’s littlest patients, all unborn children deserve protection, not death by abortion. By prohibiting elective abortion after an unborn baby’s heart is detected, the Heartbeat Protection Act constitutes an important step toward replacing abortion violence with compassion and empathy for both women and their defenseless unborn children.”
“I’m pleased to join my colleagues in introducing this bill at the start of the 118th Congress,” said Rep. Kat Cammack, Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “Our pro-life agenda is robust and includes numerous bills that affirm the importance of protecting the most vulnerable among us, and I’m grateful to Rep. Kelly and my colleagues for their leadership of this effort.”
BACKGROUND
The Heartbeat Protection Act requires doctors to check for a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortion. Any physician who performs an abortion without checking for a heartbeat or aborts a child with a detected heartbeat would be subject to criminal penalties. This restriction would not apply to abortions that are necessary to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape and incest. The Heartbeat Protection Act does not supersede existing life-affirming state laws but instead sets a minimum standard of unborn protection which states may go beyond should they choose. Women who obtain an abortion that violates this law would not be subject to prosecution.
