In Ohio, legislation has been proposed to ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, but that state's right-to-life group isn't supporting the bill because it says it would just be overturned as unconstitutional. "The heartbeat bill will not save any babies' lives because it will not be upheld in court," Michael Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, told the Columbus Dispatch. "The court has said there can be no bans on pre-viability abortions."

In Idaho, however, Right to Life of Idaho is backing SB 1165, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks based on fetal pain. Kerry Uhlenkott, legislative coordinator of Right to Life of Idaho, told the Senate State Affairs Committee this morning, "This bill would protect the unborn child who is capable of feeling pain." She said when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion, medical research hadn't yet uncovered fetal pain issues.

Among those testifying in favor of the bill so far have been a physician from Springfield, Ill., Ferdinand Salvacion of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, who testified about fetal pain. "The inability to communicate verbally does not negate the possibility that an individual is experiencing pain," he told the committee.

A Lincoln, Neb. doctor testifying in favor of the bill, Dr. Sean Patrick Kenney of St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, told the committee that in his view, abortion amounts to "assisted suicide."