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More ‘heartbeat’ abortion bans advancing in South, Midwest

If a new Mississippi law survives a court challenge, it will be nearly impossible for most pregnant women to get an abortion there.

The Louisiana legislature is halfway toward passing a law — like the ones enacted in Mississippi and Georgia — that will ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they're pregnant. Alabama is on the cusp of approving an even more restrictive bill.

State governments are on a course to virtually eliminate abortion access in large chunks of the Deep South and Midwest.