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By Alexandra Hutzler
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Janet Porter, the architect of heartbeat abortion bills, is praising Texas' "historic" law prohibiting the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy.
"We have long awaited the day when children with beating hearts are legally protected, where our heartbeat laws are actually enacted and enforced. That place is Texas, and that day is today," Porter said in a video.
She continued, "Grasp this for a moment: There is a place in the United States where nearly every child facing abortion is protected. It is historic."
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The video was uploaded to Twitter on Wednesday by the media watchdog group Right Wing Watch.
Porter is the president of Faith2Action, which bills itself as the "nation's largest network of pro-family groups." She is also considered to be the mastermind behind the recent wave of heartbeat bills after authoring the first version of such legislation in 2011.
A dozen states have since passed their own heartbeat bills, though legal challenges have delayed them from being enacted. But with Texas' success in having the law go into effect Wednesday, Porter predicts that more bans are on the way.
"The National Association of Christian Lawmakers just adopted the Texas version of the heartbeat law as their model legislation. That means that we're about to see a lot more heartbeat bills become law and actually get enforced," she said.
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The controversial Texas abortion law was signed by Governor Greg Abbott back in May. It effectively prohibits the procedure when a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy—before many women are even aware they are pregnant.
The ban even applies to cases where the woman was impregnated as a result of rape or incest. The only possible exception is for medical emergencies.
The term "fetal heartbeat" has been criticized by medical professionals and abortion rights activists as misleading because embryos don't possess a heart at that developmental stage.
The Texas ban will be enforced by private citizens who can sue abortion providers or anyone involved in aiding or abetting the procedure after a "heartbeat" is detected. Anyone who is able to successfully sue someone over abortion will be able to collect a minimum of $10,000.
Abortion clinics and health care providers filed an emergency petition urging the Supreme Court to block the law from going into effect, warning it would bar "at least 85 percent of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close."
The Supreme Court declined to act on the application, allowing the law to go into effect. The justices may still rule on the request at a later time.
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