Three more US states have made moves to protect unborn babies from abortion.
In New Mexico, lawmakers voted down proposed legislation which would have decriminalised abortion in the state.
Kentucky upheld its law requiring abortionists to offer patients an ultrasound, and North Dakota introduced legislation banning ‘human dismemberment’.
‘Conscience’
In February, the New Mexico House of Representatives voted in favour of House Bill 51, which would have repealed existing laws on abortion.
But the state senate voted 24-18 against the Bill last month.
New Mexico Alliance for Life said: “We are so thankful to the senators who stood up for women, unborn children, and their constituents”.
“We need to work together to end late-term abortion once and for all” and to “ensure our medical professionals’ conscience will always be protected from being forced to participate in an abortion”.
Life
Earlier this month, judges in Kentucky upheld its Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, which requires abortion providers to give women the opportunity to see an image of their child before having an abortion.
Pro-life group Save the Storks estimate that four out of five pregnant women who view an ultrasound choose life.
Judge John Bush, who was present at the ruling, said the law “gives a patient greater knowledge of the unborn life insider her”.
It also “inherently provides the patient with more knowledge about the effect of an abortion procedure: it shows her what, or whom, she is consenting to terminate.”
Heartbeat
North Dakota has also added to the list of pro-life moves, passing legislation to make it illegal to perform abortions using surgical instruments, such as forceps and clamps.
Any doctor found to be performing abortions by dismemberment will be prosecuted.
The law was passed the same day Ohio introduced its heartbeat Bill – a law banning abortion once a child’s heartbeat can be detected.