Mississippi Gov Bryant Signs ‘Heartbeat Bill’ Banning Abortion After Fetal Heartbeat

Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed a “heartbeat bill” Thursday, which will make abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected illegal in the state.

“I am very pro-life, always have been,” Bryant said after signing the legislation. “I think obviously we’ll have some legal challenges on it. We have legal challenges with every pro-life bill that we have ever passed. We anticipate that. We hope that it will get to the Supreme Court and they will uphold it.”

Women in Mississippi will no longer be able to have an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy after the law takes effect July 1. Pro-choice group Center for Reproductive Rights called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and threatened to sue the state, Fox News reported.

“We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, ‘I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action,’” Bryant tweeted Wednesday in response to the group.

Several other state legislatures, such as in Kentucky and Tennessee, have considered similar bills.

If an abortion is performed after approximately six weeks, under the law, the physician responsible could have their medial licenses revoked.