Susan Bordo

How ‘fetal heartbeat’ bills are an assault on the personhood of pregnant women

Last Thursday, Kentucky became the latest in a growing list of state legislatures passing “fetal heartbeat” bills that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected—as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The bill was temporarily blocked Friday by Judge David J. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky. But Hale’s decision, like the many other court rulings that have questioned the constitutionality of these bills, is no cause for relief among advocates of reproductive rights.