A woman's Constitutional right to abortion has been recognised in America since the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v Wade in 1973. That ruling ordained that abortion was legal through the second trimester, which ends around the 28th week of pregnancy. In 1992, Planned Parenthood v Caseychanged this to the age at which a fetus can survive outside the womb—around 24 weeks. But Roe's protection of early, first-trimester abortions has never been in doubt.
An increasing number of Republican states are seeking to challenge that. They are introducing bills that would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, around the sixth week of pregnancy. Because this is only about two weeks after a missed menstrual period, when many women do not yet know they are pregnant, "heartbeat" abortion laws, as they have been dubbed, are close to being total abortion bans.
On March 22nd a "heartbeat bill" passed in Georgia's Senate, and is expected to be signed by the state's Republican governor. On March 21st, a similar bill was signed into law by Mississippi's governor, also a Republican. These states are among a dozen to have introduced heartbeat bills this year. Around half of the bills have made it through at least one legislative chamber.
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