The origins of a heartbeat bill come from Janet Folger Porter, president of Faith2Action and former Ohio Right to Life legislative director.
"Once the heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected, pretty simple, if you can hear that baby's heartbeat, then that child will be protected by law."
"I have to say that it won't pass constitutional review, so it goes against the Roe vs. Wade language."
That's the bill of Becki Brenner, executive director of Planned Parenthood of southwest Ohio. However, Paula Westwood of Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati says Republican gains in Columbus and Washington make this the right time to act.
"The goal for a lot of legislative strategies is to have something that would get through committee, would get out, and would be declared unconstitutional, make it up through the courts to the Supreme Court."
"You know, these legislators, they were hired for jobs and economic development, and that's where they need to be putting their attention."
"We're going to force the court to look at these distinctive, definitive moments when the child's heart begins to beat."
Civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein who's defended abortion providers says in his opinion, the measure won't get very far.
"This bill totally eliminates the notion of viability and it pushes the ban way up into the first trimester, which is clearly unconstitutional."
