The Republican-dominated Ohio House will consider a bill that would ban abortions after 24 weeks, or 22 weeks if the fetus is “viable.” It would also allow exceptions “if the physical health of the woman is at serious risk but specifies that does not include a condition related to the woman’s mental health.”
House Bill 7, which is sponsored by Democrat Lorraine Fende, is one of the priorities of the Ohio House Republicans and would put Ohio alongside 38 other states that have some legal restrictions on late-term abortions.
Ohio once had a late-term abortion ban, but that was struck down by the courts in 1997.
The Columbus Dispatch reports:
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2011.
As a conservative, nuclear med tech, and a mother of two, I do not agree with this proposed legislation. The government should not have the authority to tell parents to compromise their own health or that of their child and force pregnancy against a woman’s will. Late term abortions are ONLY legal due to medical issues. I wish more attention was paid to our deplorable rates of maternal and infant mortality than wasted on violations of medical privacy and informed consent.
Plunderbund has a post pointing out that this is already illegal. So Fende is either wasting taxpayer money or pushing a hidden agenda.