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MONTGOMERY, Alabama, November 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Alabama state legislators are planning to reconsider a bill banning abortions once the baby's heartbeat can be detected.

The “Heartbeat Bill” was introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives the past two sessions, but despite House approval, the bill died in the state Senate.

Now the measure has been given new life, thanks to a state senator who will fight for Senate support.  State Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, said he plans to introduce the bill when legislators return next year.

Sen. Allen explained that he supports the Heartbeat Bill because, “If there’s a heartbeat, it’s a living person.  Period.”

The Heartbeat Bill would make committing an abortion against a baby after his/her heartbeat is detected a Class C felony. It would also be a crime, under the Heartbeat Bill, to fail to try to detect the baby's heartbeat, unless the mother's life was in danger.

The bill does not apply to ectopic pregnancies, or when the growing baby has been diagnosed with a fatal condition and expected to die within three months of birth.

“We are thrilled to see Alabama continuing the fight to protect babies with beating hearts,” Janet Porter, President of Faith2Action, told LifeSiteNews.

Porter was the architect of the nation's first Heartbeat Bill, which is still stalled in Ohio.  “We need to do more than regulate, defund, and talk about abortion–we need to END it, and we are rooting for Alabama to help lead the way,” she said.

Some pro-lifers oppose the Heartbill Bill and similar legislation because they fear the inevitable legal challenge could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court strengthening Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the infamous dual-ruling which made abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

Porter says such an attitude will never save babies.  She was once a spokesperson for Gov. John Kasich, now a presidential candidate, but Porter split with Kasich over the Heartbeat Bill proposed in Ohio.

“If you want to know why the pro-life Heartbeat Bill hasn't passed in Ohio yet, look no further than Governor John Kasich, who claims to be pro-life, but is blocking the most protective pro-life bill to ever pass the Ohio House of Representatives,” added Porter.

Porter told LifeSiteNews that the Heartbeat Bill would save 20,000 lives each year in Ohio alone.

“You can't block a bill like this and call yourself pro-life,” added Porter.  “To the pro-life voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina: John Kasich is NOT your man.”

Alabama State Sen. Allen also told the Decatur Daily that the Alabama Heartbeat Bill would one day help overturn Roe v. Wade.  “I think (the Heartbeat Bill) is a piece of the puzzle to continue to let the public know that we’re going to do whatever we can to preserve life,” Allen said.

A similar law in North Dakota protecting babies in the womb was struck down by a federal appeals court this past summer as “unconstitutional.”

The Alabama 2016 legislative session begins February 2.