COLUMBUS -- A bill that would impose the strictest abortion limit in the nation has cleared the Ohio House.

The Republican led-House voted 54-43 to pass the bill. It now goes to the GOP-controlled Senate, where its prospects are uncertain.

The legislation would ban abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy. It was one of three abortion-related bills the House was scheduled to take up today.

If it's enacted, supporters of the so-called heartbeat bill hope to provoke a legal challenge and overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. The ruling upheld a woman's right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.