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by Michelle Goldberg
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-02/ohio-heartbeat-bill-abortion-outrage-the-religious-rights-grip-on-republican-party/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR4
A Christian activist had two fetuses called as witnesses—the latest sign of a nationwide attack on abortion rights. Michelle Goldberg on why the religious right’s grip on the GOP is as strong as ever.
It sounds like an Onion headline. “In-the-womb Ohioans testify for Heartbeat Bill,” said a press release from Janet Porter, the Christian right activist who arranged for two fetuses, one nine weeks old, to offer “expert testimony” before the Health Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives Wednesday. They were shown via ultrasound projector, for legislators in a packed room to “see and hear their beating hearts,” as Porter wrote.
Farcical as it seems, what’s going on in Ohio is actually quite serious. The Heartbeat Bill, or H.B. 125, is a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade, and it’s part of a fusillade of anti-abortion legislation being introduced all around the country. H.B. 125 would ban abortion as soon as a heartbeat can be detected, as early as 18 days after conception, and rarely later than six weeks. It currently has been co-sponsored by 50 members of the Ohio House, more than half the total, and similar bills are being considered in Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia. It’s just the latest bit of evidence that the Republican Party is as firmly in the grip of the religious right as ever.
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