Here's a summary of efforts in several states to pass heartbeat bills and other pro-life legislation.

Unless otherwise noted, the following information comes from this webpage.

- A heartbeat bill vetoed by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe on Monday, March 4, 2013 was enacted when the Arkansas House voted to override the Governor’s veto on March 6. One day earlier, the Senate also had voted to override the veto. This legislation has since been struck down. In related legislative activity, in March of 2019, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill banning abortions after 18 weeks. A month earlier, Arkansas passed a law making abortion against the law if Roe v. Wade ever is overturned.
- North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple signed a heartbeat bill into law on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently struck the law down, and the Supreme Court has refused to review this case.
- Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed her state’s heartbeat bill into law on Friday, May 4, 2018

- Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed his state’s heartbeat bill into law on Friday, March 15, 2019. The US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has blocked it, at least temporarily.
- Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed his state’s heartbeat bill into law on Thursday, March 21, 2019.
- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed his state’s heartbeat bill into law on Thursday, April 11, 2019. The ACLU has filed suit to block it.
- Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the Georgia Heartbeat Bill into law on Tuesday, May 7, 2019.
- Although not with a heartbeat bill, the state of Alabama has outlawed all abortions except those performed to save the life of the mother. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the Human Life Protection Act into law on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. The left criticized Alabama, saying things like “These 25 White Men – all Republicans – just Voted to Ban Abortion in Alabama.” The fact that Roe v. Wade was decided by a group of nine men, eight of whom were white, was totally ignored. There also was this in an article from the BBC: “Alabama’s 35-seat Senate is dominated by men, and none of its four female senators backed the ban. It was then signed by Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey.” Tellingly, the article didn’t even admit the obvious—that Governor Ivey is a female!
- Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed his state’s heartbeat bill into law on Friday, May 24, 2019. The law is scheduled to take effect on Wednesday, August 28.
- Louisiana’s Democrat Governor, John Bel Edwards, signed his state’s heartbeat bill into law on Thursday, May 30, 2019. The legislation will take effect only if the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the heartbeat law passed in Mississippi.
- Efforts are underway in South Carolina to pass a heartbeat bill.
- Efforts also are underway in Michigan.
- A heartbeat bill passed the Tennessee House of Representatives on March 7, 2019 by a vote of 65 to 21. On April 9, the senate version of the bill is sent to a summer study committee by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Not surprisingly, the laws passed in many of these states have been blocked by the courts, including the laws in North Dakota and Arkansas, the first two states to pass heartbeat legislation.

Return to the main article to learn more about why judicial review of the North Dakota and Arkansas laws in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was and is especially significant.

This page is part of a larger article.

Here’s a summary of efforts in several states to pass heartbeat bills and other pro-life legislation.