Tomorrow, the full Ohio House will vote on a ban on abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. It's been renamed the "Human Rights Protection Act" but has commonly been known as the Heartbeat Bill over the five times lawmakers have considered it.
The bill is still controversial, but today, it passed a House committee easily.
There was debate over whether to hear testimony on the bill, but in the end, it was allowed. Most who spoke testified against it. Kimberly Inez Maguire asked the committee to put themselves in the shoes of a woman facing an unplanned or difficult pregnancy.
鈥淧lease consider the inevitability that someone you love will need an abortion," Maguire said.
But that didn鈥檛 sway Republican committee member Candice Keller, who runs a pro-life pregnancy center.
鈥淪omeone you love will need an abortion? How ridiculous. What a thing to say," Keller said.
The two hours of testimony and mostly failed amendments to the bill didn鈥檛 change any minds. The vote on the bill was 11-7 along party lines.
