Group launches ballot drive ban abortions after 1st heartbeat

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan group is launching a ballot drive to ban abortions after a fetus's heartbeat is detected, with exceptions to protect a pregnant woman's life or health.

The Michigan Heartbeat Coalition filed its initiative wording Tuesday. It's the second ballot committee to push an anti-abortion measure, following a Right to Life-backed group that's seeking to prohibit a second-trimester abortion procedure.

A fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks.

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If roughly 340,000 valid signatures are gathered, the heartbeat initiative will go to the Republican-led Legislature. It could enact it or allow a statewide vote.

Anti-abortion activists disagree over the latest initiative.

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Proponents say it'd protect more lives, while Right to Life worries the measure could interfere with an abortion ban already on the books if Roe v. Wade is overturned.