The Georgia Senate on Friday approved what would be among the strictest abortion laws in the country on a party-line vote after more than four hours of debate.

House Bill 481 would outlaw abortions once a doctor detects a heartbeat in the womb — which is usually at about six weeks into a pregnancy and before most women know they are pregnant. Current Georgia law allows abortions to be performed until 20 weeks.

Georgia is poised to become the third state in as many weeks to pass similar legislation. A federal judge blocked Kentucky's version of the law hours after it was signed by that state's governor.

Earlier this week, Mississippi's governor also signed "heartbeat" legislation into law. Last year, a court struck down that's state 15-week abortion ban, calling it unconstitutional.

Georgia's legislation now heads back to the House, which will have to approve changes made in the Senate. The House narrowly passed the original bill earlier this month.

Acworth Republican state Rep. Ed Setzler, who sponsored the bill, said he is looking forward to taking the legislation across the finish line before the session adjourns April 2.

"We have really taken great lengths to balance the legitimate interests of women with the basic right to life of the child," he said.

Democrats vowed to use the vote to defeat Republicans in the 2020 elections.

Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to sign the legislation if it wins final passage. He vowed during his 2018 campaign to sign the strictest abortion laws in the country.

In a statement shortly after the vote, Kemp said the Senate "affirmed Georgia's commitment to life."

"I applaud the members who supported the heartbeat bill's passage for protecting the vulnerable and giving a voice to those who cannot yet speak for themselves," Kemp said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has already said it will file a lawsuit if the measure wins final passage.

Many Republican lawmakers have said the bill was proposed in response to a New York law that expanded access to abortion.

During sometimes emotional debate Friday, Senate Science and Technology Chairwoman Renee Unterman, who shepherded the bill through the chamber, told her story of having to get a hysterectomy when she was 22 years old, making her unable to have children.

She later adopted two children — children she was happy that women decided to carry to term.

"We are not like New York or Virginia," she said. "We will not throw away children who aren't perfect because all children are perfect in the eyes of God."

One by one, the Senate's Democratic women — clad in white in recognition of women's rights and the suffrage movement — told emotional personal stories and those of others who had either had abortions or had problems in childbirth.

State Sen. Jen Jordan, an Atlanta Democrat, recounted her 10 pregnancies that resulted in only two children. She had eight miscarriages, one of them when she was five months pregnant — "Her name was Juliette," Jordan said...

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