Group backs abortion ban after 1st heartbeat
LANSING (AP) — A Michigan group is launching a ballot drive to ban abortions after a fetus’s heartbeat is detected, with exceptions to protect a pregnant woman’s life or health.
The Michigan Heartbeat Coalition filed its initiative wording Tuesday. It’s the second ballot committee to push an anti-abortion measure, following a Right to Life-backed group that’s seeking to prohibit a second-trimester abortion procedure.
A fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks.
If roughly 340,000 valid signatures are gathered, the heartbeat initiative will go to the Republican-led Legislature. It could enact it or allow a statewide vote.
Anti-abortion activists disagree over the latest initiative.