Kentucky lawmakers advance fetal heartbeat abortion bill
Source: Associated Press
Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press
Updated 12:10 pm CST, Thursday, February 14, 2019
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) Kentucky lawmakers heard the beating heart of a woman's unborn baby before voting Thursday to advance a bill to ban most abortions in the state once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
April Lanham, who lives in the district of the bill's lead sponsor, let them hear it via an electronic monitor while she was at the witness table in the committee room at Kentucky's Capitol complex.
"That child in her womb is a living human being," Republican Sen. Matt Castlen, the bill sponsor, said later. "And all living human beings have a right to life."
A short time later, a Senate committee advanced the bill. It would require anyone seeking an abortion to first determine if a fetal heartbeat is detectable. If it is, the abortion would be banned. A fetal heartbeat can be detected about six weeks into pregnancy.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Kentucky-lawmakers-advance-fetal-heartbeat-13616570.php