An Arizona lawmaker has introduced a heartbeat bill that would prohibit most abortions in the state after a preborn child’s heartbeat is detected.
State Rep. Teresa Martinez introduced H.B. 2483, the Arizona Heartbeat Act at the beginning of the legislative session earlier this month. The bill is very similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act, currently under review in the courts. Should it pass, it would prohibit abortions after about six weeks, which is when most ultrasound equipment can detect a preborn child’s heartbeat. It would also allow private citizens to sue violators of the law, with a $10,000 bounty for anyone who successfully reports a violation; however, it does stipulate that “[n]otwithstanding any other law, a civil action under this section may not be brought by a person who impregnated the abortion patient through an act of sexual assault or incest.”
The bill does include exceptions for cases of rape and incest. But far from what is often claimed, abortion does not undo the horrific violence of rape, and instead subjects the mother to even more trauma and violence while killing her child. Many women have spoken out about deeply regretting abortion after rape.
READ: Female Nebraska senator receives rape and death threats over heartbeat legislation
While no public comment from Martinez about the bill was available, Planned Parenthood was quick to speak out against it.
“The introduction of H.B. 2483 is yet another signal to all Arizonians that the fight for abortion access is happening right here at home,” Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, told HuffPost. “It is clear that the Supreme Court’s inaction on Texas’ unconstitutional abortion ban has emboldened anti-abortion legislators in Arizona to copy S.B. 8 and continue to push for extreme restrictions on reproductive freedom in our state.”
“The right to accessible, affordable, and informed reproductive health care should be inalienable, yet we are seeing attack after attack fueled by misinformation and stigma in Arizona,” Fonteno continued. “Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona stands with all our patients and providers and opposes this ban and all infringements on the right to abortion. We will continue to fight for all people’s rights to control their bodies, families, and futures.”
While Planned Parenthood suggests that “reproductive health care” should be labeled an “inalienable” right, one truly inalienable right the nation’s largest abortion corporation seems to have forgotten is the right to life for every human being. Rather than trample on anyone’s rights, this and other heartbeat bills are designed for one purpose: to save the lives of human beings who exist in the womb.
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