Miss. bills would regulate reproductive practices

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers are considering new restrictions on reproductive health, including a bill that would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

Republican Rep. Tracy Arnold of Booneville filed the “Protection of the Human Person Act.” It reflects a personhood initiative that state voters rejected in 2011, which would’ve defined life as beginning at fertilization. But, it goes further. Arnold’s bill would ban creation of any human-animal hybrid through in vitro fertilization.