Missouri, latest US state to restrict abortion

WASHINGTON: The Missouri House passed a bill on Friday banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the latest US state to pass restrictions on ending a pregnancy.

The bill, overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-led legislature and expected to be signed by the Midwestern state´s Republican governor, would ban abortions from about eight weeks of pregnancy.

Doctors who perform abortions could be subject to prison sentences of between five and 15 years.

Republican-led legislatures in several US states have recently passed bills restricting abortion access in a bid to eventually challenge the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling legalizing the practice.

Abortion opponents are hoping the moves will prompt the nation´s highest court, which now has a conservative majority, to overturn its landmark decision in the case known as Roe vs Wade.

The Republican-dominated legislature in the southern state of Alabama passed legislation this week that places a near-total ban on ending a pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest.

The Missouri bill also does not allow exceptions for rape or incest, only in cases where the mother´s life is in danger.

All of the state bans have either been blocked by a judge or are headed for the courts, and some of their backers have said they want the issue to go all the way to the nine-member Supreme Court.

The Republican bid to force a showdown over Roe vs Wade comes as President Donald Trump is ramping up for a 2020 re-election campaign with abortion as a hot-button issue.

The Supreme Court has previously reaffirmed a woman´s constitutional right to an abortion, but some anti-abortion activists believe the time may have come to turn the tables.

Since taking office, Trump has appointed two conservative justices -- Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- and liberal members of the court are outnumbered five to four.