A federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law Wednesday that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, allowing clinics to continue to provide the procedure as a legal faceoff continues. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett halts enforcement of the so-called heartbeat bill law that opponents argued would effectively ban the procedure.
That’s because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
Barrett said Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics represented by the American Civil Liberties Union that sued to stop the law “are certain to succeed on the merits of their claim that (the bill) is unconstitutional on its face.” Barrett joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.