Bachmann, Gingrich, Moore and Dobson Endorse Porter's Extreme 'Heartbeat Bill'

Republicans and major Religious Right leaders continue to rally around radical dominionist Janet Porter’s ‘Heartbeat Bill,’ the sweeping and likely unconstitutional Ohio legislation that would criminalize abortion in the vast majority of cases. After receiving endorsements from Mike Huckabee, Ohio Republicans Steve Chabot and Ken Blackwell, and Columbus televangelist Rod Parsley, Porter has enlisted the support of likely presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and Roy Moore. In addition, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson has also come out in favor of Porter’s legislation.

After bringing in two pregnant women to the State House to have their fetuses “testify” on behalf of the legislation, the House Health and Aging Committee approved the bill by just one vote. In fact, the Ohio Right to Life Society opposes the ‘Heartbeat Bill’ because it will doubtlessly fall to a legal challenge. But Lynn Wachtmann, the rabidly anti-choice state legislator who is its chief sponsor, said in a statement that he hoped the support from leading GOP figures would lead to a vote by the full House. Porter also claimed that ten million people back the ‘Heartbeat Bill’:

"In addition to the majority of the Ohio House of Representatives, it’s great to have the support of Congresswoman Bachmann, Speaker Gingrich, and Judge Moore," said Representative Lynn Wachtmann, prime sponsor of the bill. "We’re anxiously waiting for our Speaker, Bill Batchelder, to schedule a vote in the full House to protect babies with beating hearts."

"I believe life begins at conception but support Sub. H.B. 125 as a great step toward that goal!" said Judge Roy Moore, former Chief Justice for the Alabama Supreme Court.

Support for the Heartbeat Bill includes the overwhelming majority of local pro-life organizations, and 500 groups and leaders including: Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council Action, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, Dr. Jack Willke, founder of National Right to Life, Mat Staver, dean of Liberty Law School, founder of Liberty Counsel, and president of Freedom Federation, and Father Frank Pavone, who is national director of Priests for Life and president of the National Pro-life Religious Council. A complete list of supporters is available at HeartbeatBill.com.

"I don't think there's a bill before the legislature with more support than the Heartbeat Bill," said Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action. "Leaders and organizations who back the Heartbeat Bill now represent more than ten million people who want a swift vote for its passage."

Today, Porter lauded the endorsements she received from Dobson and anti-choice activists Abby Johnson and Bobby Schindler in a statement, asserting there is no other bill not just in Ohio but “in America with more support than the Heartbeat Bill”:

Dr. James C. Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family and now leads Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, announced his support of the Heartbeat Bill. This bill, which is currently before the full Ohio House, would protect pre-born children from the time of their first detectable heartbeat.

Two others who recently announced their support are Abby Johnson, a former director of Planned Parenthood who is now pro-life and has written about it in unPLANNED, and Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who was starved to death at a Florida hospice in 2005.

"The support for the Heartbeat Bill is historic," said Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action, America's Largest Network of Pro-Family Organizations. "I don't think there's a bill in America with more support than the Heartbeat Bill."