Tennessee enacted a law July 13 that provides some of the country’s strongest protections for unborn children.
The bill prohibits an abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. The measure also bans an abortion when the doctor knows the request for the procedure is driven by the race, sex or health/disability diagnosis of a child.
A federal judge quickly blocked enforcement of the law at the request of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates.
Other pro-life efforts to protect unborn babies and their mothers have received setbacks recently. On July 13, a federal judge permanently blocked Georgia’s heartbeat law. On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that requires a physician to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a facility where he or she performs an abortion.
Several states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Utah, have enacted versions of abortion bans in the past year.
Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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