A bill proposing a total ban on abortions now before the Ohio House of Representatives has drawn media coverage from as far away as England over a provision that some say requires doctors to perform the impossible — or potentially face murder charges.
House Bill 413 isn’t the first time conservative Ohio lawmakers have tried to ban abortions, likely in a move to trigger a battle over the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized the procedure, Roe v. Wade.
But the current legislation, sponsored by State Reps. Candice Keller and Ron Hood and supported by 19 other House Republicans, has an even more controversial element.
The bill seems to advise doctors to try and re-implant ectopic pregnancies — something medical professionals say is not possible.
Keller, who represents Middletown, has said the bill is about saving the lives of the unborn. The legislation defines an unborn fetus as a person and levies murder charges against those who perform abortions.
“The time for regulating evil and compromise is over,” she said in a statement last month when the bill was announced. “The time has come to abolish abortion in its entirety and recognize that each individual has the inviolable and inalienable right to life.”
Ectopic pregnancies take place when a fertilized egg attaches itself somewhere other than the usual location inside a woman’s uterus — often in the fallopian tubes or other areas. That is dangerous because the embryo attaches itself to blood supply and grows, eventually causing hemorrhaging that can lead to death. The condition causes roughly 4 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S.
The proposed law isn’t entirely clear about when doctors must attempt to re-implant into the uterus an embryo removed during procedures to treat an ectopic pregnancy, but the language seems to leave doctors who don’t try to do so at risk of “abortion murder,” a crime that would be punishable by life in prison or even a death sentence.
“A physician who does all of the following is not subject to criminal prosecution, damages in any civil action, or professional disciplinary action, for a violation of this chapter,” the law reads, listing off a number of measures a doctor should take to avoid those penalties, including taking “all possible steps to preserve the life of the unborn child, while preserving the life of the woman. Such steps include, if applicable, attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus.”
That provision has drawn coverage from major British news site The Guardian and a number of U.S. national news sources.
This is not the first time Ohio lawmakers have attempted to tout reimplementation of an ectopic embryo. A bill by State Rep. John Becker mentioned the possibility earlier this year. Medical professionals, however, cried foul.
“Unfortunately, an ectopic pregnancy cannot be ‘reimplanted’ into the uterus,” public health researcher at the University of California San Francisco Dr. Daniel Grossman tweeted earlier this year, after Becker’s bill was introduced. “We just don’t have the technology. So I would suggest removing this from your bill, since it’s pure science fiction.”
Keller and Hood’s bill comes after Republicans in the State House passed one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws earlier this year, the so-called “Heartbeat Bill,” which forbids most abortions after six weeks. A federal judge blocked implementation of that law this summer.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2019.
I sent an email to this idiot Candice Keller and you can too! Tell her what you think her crazy idea that an ectopic pregnancy can be implanted in the uterus. IT CAN’T BE DONE! And if it was tried it could kill the woman because it is dead tissue!! Go her page on the Ohio legislature’s webpage and you can send her an email on her contact page.
Do any of these Bible-thumpers even have any kind of medical background whatsoever? Obviously NOT! Better to make scarecrows out of these ASSHATS and give them some “bran-new brains”…thereby replacing the SHIT between their ears. Once again, North Missitucky is the laughingstock of the world, for all the wrong reasons…and I am once again ashamed to be a North Missituckian.
Hey, assclowns, the fiftieth anniversary of The Shootings will be here in five months…can’t wait to see what kind of utter stupidity all you Benights of Columbus spew from your esteemed pieholes on May Fourth. James Rhodes is still alive in this shithole state…but now he hates women instead of hippies and radicals.
I just… I can’t….
It’s not enough that these bible humping fuck nuggets have the unmitigated gall to try and tell other people what they can and can’t do with their own bodies, now they’re going to re educate the entire medical profession as to what is and isn’t possible and then jail them when they fail to accomplish a miracle?
That’s right, the morons in charge of creationism in the classroom, climate change denial, and the belief that the Earth is only 6000 years old are going to “fix” medical science? How fucking stupid, pathetic and misguided can you be? Pretty stupid apparently.
Fuck all of you, go find a new land and create your perfect society based completely around religion and the law of the church…..
Oh wait, we tried that one already, a long time ago. It didn’t work then, it certainly wont work now. Enough with the bible thumpers already, their time has passed and will soon be over. Thank the non existent lord.
To send a letter to Candice Keller, simply go here :
http://www.ohiohouse.gov/candice-keller/contact
Remember, what you write may become part of the public record, so save the rage for the comment section (here!) and do your very best at making a compelling argument without pushing too many buttons. Goodness knows we want to, but imagine one of them hollering at us with their pro-life bs? Good luck, pro-choice advocates!
No, no…it’s North Missitucker…rhymes with mother…never mind…
What do you expect from an ignorant, cruel woman hiding behind religion to push her Christo-fascist sharia laws. Same incredibly stupid woman who blamed gay people for mass shootings. Get rid of gerrymandering so those dangerous extremists never crawl out from under their 1850s rocks again.
I’ve had two tubal pregnancies. The possibility that you, your wives or daughters will bleed out in an ER due to this type of legislation is very real . Ectopics are in the same realm as say a heart attack and should not be included anywhere in the abortion debates. This centrist is now taking a sharp left for the foreseeable future.