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Texas Files 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bill

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Would criminalize abortions about six weeks into pregnancy.

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Because there wasn’t enough abortion drama in Texas, three Republican lawmakers have filed a measure to criminalize abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected—it normally is heard around six weeks into a pregnancy. The Texas legislature has been holding a special session to discuss abortion restrictions after attemptimg to ban abortion after 20 weeks riveted the nation. To detect a fetal heartbeat at the earliest stage, as this law proposes, typically requires an invasive probe rather than an outer-body ultrasound. North Dakota recently passed a similar bill.

Read it at Think Progress