COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Senate Republicans, under pressure from an anti-abortion group to act, will move a bill that bans abortions in Ohio once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, says Senate President Tom Niehaus.

The New Richmond Republican said this week that a four-month Senate impasse on the so-called "heartbeat" legislation has broken, and his caucus is prepared to move forward with committee hearings and eventual passage of the legislation. If the heartbeat bill becomes law and withstands any legal challenges, Ohio would have the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

The legislation had passed the Ohio House 54-44 on June 28, but has sat almost five months without even being referred to a Senate committee. The bill will be shipped to the Senate's Health, Human Services and Aging Committee, where hearings will begin after a few more behind-the-scenes meetings with interested parties, according to Niehaus.

"I expect the bill will be moving to committee for deliberation," said Niehaus.

He said the intent would be to eventually move the bill to the floor for passage, although he couldn't say exactly what the timetable would be. The Senate is dominated by Republicans, who hold a 23-10 majority, and the GOP caucus is solidly anti-abortion rights.

Abortion-rights supporters have said the law outlaws abortions for women before they even know they are pregnant and vowed to fight it at every turn. Medical evidence suggests that the heartbeat of a fetus can be detected at about six weeks gestation.

The decision from Senate Republican leaders comes after an anti-abortion group, Ohio Pro Life Action, began running TV ads on Fox News programs in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati markets called "Every Day of Delay."

The ad stated that "every single day the Senate delays a vote on the heartbeat bill, a school bus full of children's lives are lost," and implored viewers to call their GOP state senators.

Linda Theis, spokeswoman for Ohio Pro Life Action, welcomed the news the bill would soon be headed for a committee.

"We would enthusiastically welcome a move to the committee where the details can be secured up on the bill and look forward to it going to the full floor," she said.

Theis said she thought her group's campaign had made an impact.

"I think they are hearing the grassroots of Ohio speaking to them," she said.

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said majority-party Republicans are essentially making abortions illegal and trying to return Ohio back to the 1960s, which she called "a dark and dangerous" time for women.

"It's not going to end abortions, it's going to make them illegal and dangerous," she said. "Where does he (Niehaus) think women are going to go?

The heartbeat bill has caused a rift among anti-abortion rights groups, with Ohio Right to Life officials not supporting it because of concerns that it would lose in court and that such a legal challenge would have the unintended consequence of strengthening a woman's right to choose an abortion.

That position hasn't sat well with some other anti-abortion activists. Warren County Right to Life officially cut off ties recently with Ohio Right to Life because the statewide group wasn't supporting the bill.

Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said the Republican governor "has been consistently pro-life all of his public life" but doesn't generally take a position on bills that haven't reached his desk.