Ohio senators hear 'heartbeat' abortion bill

COLUMBUS (AP) — An Ohio lawmaker today touted the importance of the fetal heartbeat as an indicator of life as he urged a legislative panel to support a bill that would impose the nation's most stringent abortion limit.

The measure would outlaw abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat. That's sometimes as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

State Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, the bill's sponsor, told the Ohio Senate's health committee that doctors and nurses closely monitor patients' heartbeats and emergency responders check for pulses.

"Why, then, should we ignore this critical indicator of life when it comes to the very young?" asked Wachtmann, R-Napoleon.

If it's enacted into law, supporters of the so-called heartbeat bill hope to provoke a legal challenge and overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. The ruling upheld a woman's right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.