Republicans in the Legislature introduced multiple anti-abortion bills this session, with three being introduced Monday, just before this session’s bill-filing deadline .<\/p>\n
One bill, introduced by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, would prohibit abortions after a heartbeat is detected and already has 16 co-sponsors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nine other states have introduced so-called “heartbeat bills,” which can prohibit abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. However, some of those laws have been challenged in court, and just last Thursday, a ban on Mississippi’s heartbeat bill was upheld in a circuit court.<\/a><\/p>\n But Vance is convinced her support in the Legislature is reflective of Alaskan’s views on abortion.<\/p>\n “I feel that most Alaskans value life and want to see that protected. That’s how I was able to get 17 other sponsors,” Vance said. “This is representative of the will of Alaskans.”<\/p>\n Not everyone agrees. On Wednesday, pro-abortion rights groups will be giving testimony against<\/a> SJR 13 at the Capitol. Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest and Hawaiian Islands, which oversees Planned Parenthood in Alaska, could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n With 17 co-sponsors the bill already has nearly the 21 needed to pass. Vance said she approached representatives not based on party but based on their views of abortion.<\/p>\n “This is something that, for there to be this many members sign onto a piece of legislation like this is significant,” Vance said. “This is not my bill. This is our bill.”<\/p>\n In January a number of Republican and one Democratic lawmaker attended an anti-abortion rally on the steps of the Capitol.<\/p>\n “We have a significant force (in the Legislature) to work with you,” Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, told the crowd at the rally. “It’s a moral battle and a political battle.”<\/p>\n Rep. Sara Rasmussen, R-Anchorage, introduced two bills Monday, one which would limit the age<\/a> at which abortions can be performed to 20 weeks. The other says medical professionals providing abortions<\/a>, “shall use the method of terminating the pregnancy that provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive after the child is removed from the pregnant woman’s womb.”<\/p>\n Additionally the bill calls for medical professional to provide the same care to the removed child as would be provided to any infant, and to keep that child alive.<\/p>\n Rasmussen could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Sen. Shelly Hughes has introduced a bill which would add a constitutional amendment regarding abortion.<\/p>\n “To protect human life, nothing in this constitution may be construed to secure or protect a right to an abortion or require the State to fund an abortion,” the bill, SJR 13<\/a>, reads.<\/p>\n