Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoes 'heartbeat' bill, signs 20-week abortion ban
On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) vetoed the controversial "heartbeat" bill, which would have prevented a woman from getting an abortion as soon as a fetus' heartbeat could be detected. A fetal heartbeat is typically detectable around the sixth week of pregnancy, though many women do not know they are pregnant until about the eighth week, when they've likely missed two periods. If passed, the law would have been one of the country's strictest anti-abortion laws.
However, Kasich — a dedicated pro-lifer — did sign a bill into law Tuesday that will ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. An estimated 1.5 percent of abortions happen after 20 weeks, which is when many tests for fetal anomalies are done. The bill does not include an exception in the case of rape or incest.
The abortion ban is set to take effect in 90 days. Seventeen other states already have similar bans in place.
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