The Ohio Senate on Wednesday voted 19-13 to pass a bill that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — as soon as six weeks after conception.
It’s not the first time the restrictions — which, if passed, would be among the strictest in the country — have come before the Ohio General Assembly. But they may have a better chance of passing into law and withstanding legal challenges now than at any time in the past.
The bill has roughly 50 co-sponsors as well as the support of pro-life groups like Ohio Right to Life. But last month, dozens also testified or submitted written statements opposing the bills, including NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio and the Ohio State Medical Association, on the grounds that it would block women’s access to needed health care.
“The OSMA is extremely concerned due to specific provisions of the legislation that allow for civil and criminal penalties for clinicians who provide medical care related to women’s reproductive health issues,” the group said in written testimony.
The Republican-lead General Assembly last year passed a similar bill, but it was vetoed by then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich. It was the second time Kasich had vetoed the legislation due to concerns about its constitutionality.
New Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, however, says he will sign the bills into law.
The version of the bill the state Senate passed does not include exceptions for rape or incest. Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the legislation.
Republican senators who voted for the legislation say it is part of the state’s duty to protect the unborn. Bill sponsor Republican State Sen. Kristina Roegner argued that Ohio must protect fetuses as soon as they are viable, and that current laws don’t go far enough.
“We need a new standard. The heartbeat bill provides a sensible solution,” she said.
But critics say it is government interference in women’s choices about their body.
“This feels like, looks like, reads on paper like it’s a political intrusion into an extremely personal decision that a woman would make with her doctor,” Sen. Nicki Antonio, a Democrat, said during debate over the bill. Antonio presented an amendment to the bill that would have exempted rape and incest cases, but it was voted down.
Courts have struck down similar heartbeat laws in other states, including North Dakota and Iowa, as recently as last month. Federal courts have declared the laws violate the constitution under Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that guarantees abortion rights.
Supporters of the law say it could be part of a wave of legislation that succeeds before the Supreme Court, with its two new conservative additions.
“Ultimately, this will work its way up to the United States Supreme Court,” DeWine told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in January. “And they’ll make that decision.”
The legislation next goes to the Ohio House of Representatives, where it has a good chance of passage.
Bill co-sponsor State Rep. Candice Keller of Middletown says the aim of the legislation is simple: demonstrate that the laws can withstand legal scrutiny and protect the lives of the unborn.
“After nine years of waiting, it is time,” she told the House committee, of which she is a member, last month.
However, representatives from NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio argued in testimony that the legislation would represent a “seismic shift” in abortion access policy.
“Abortion will be effectively outlawed in Ohio, and likely in many of our neighboring states,” NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland told the Senate committee last month. “Abortion may remain legal in some states, but they may not be able to handle the influx of patients to their states.”
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2019.
Don’t ever have sex with a Republican man
what if you were raped and went to go get an abortion and find out the baby has a heartbeat and now you have to keep the baby ? what if ur body cant handle the baby and you die while giving birth to the baby ? all because it had a heartbeat when you went to go try and get an abortion. what if you arent financially stable to take care of a baby ? this will make women give themselves abortions and possibly end up killing themselves while doing it because they arent professionally trained to do so.
Luckily, you drive 2 hours to New York to kill your baby.
Anonns arguments are easily debated with statistics that show hardly any abortions are performed because of health issues or rape. Most are done out of convenience because these women are convinced that having a child will have a negative impact on their life or that they can’t (or don’t want to) afford caring for their child.
If you get pregnant and you’re not sick or raped, just have your child. You will not regret it.
I never thought Ohio could sink even lower than Indiana, the home of Mike Pence. Now we have.
We’re not North Missitucky anymore. ..we’re East indiana., where women have choices.
They will now have the freedom to use any color coat hanger they like!
Once some republican’s boozed up daughter gets knocked up at a frat party and doesn’t know who papa is they’ll be quick to ship that girl up to Michigan to get the scrape. They don’t care if poor people have to resort back to coat hangers.
If you don’t want abortions, don’t have one. It is not up to a bunch of hick politicians to tell people what to do. This is the consequences of not voting.
I believe that there is no better time than now to have these ‘heartbeat bills’ be passed in our nation. There is a strong republican voice in the supreme court and especially after the new Unplanned movie, following the life of Abby Johnson, people have become ever more aware of this gagged issue. The problem with our nation is that we have such a group polarization and self-serving bias that we don’t try and open our ears up to the others opinions and concerns. Abortion has been and always will be a dividing topic of the world; it has been since the late 1500’s, early 1600’s in Egypt and Europe. Even though Roe v. Wade has had such an impact on our country(46 states were impacted when this passed in Roe’s favor) right to privacy does not overrule to right to murder innocent children; especially when the purpose of abortions were strictly to save a mother from death due to complications or labor. Planned Parenthood was created for the means to spread awareness to women about protection during sex, pills, condoms, etc. The shift they took from their foundation has truly been appalling and divided the country beyond fathomable measures. As a teenager myself, I have noticed that many students in school are very uneducated in these products and have no understanding of the process of abortion and how many complications come with going through with it. I believe that not only is it the fault of education systems for providing both sides of the issue but also the misunderstanding in the public of America through media, press, and division of political “ideals”. Personally, I am very much in favor of the heartbeat bills and banning abortion as a whole and wishing to have Planned Parenthood and other corporations go back to warning/helping women with their health rather than continuing with assisted murder. There is no better time to open the doors to the issue and keep them open until the moral, financial, cognitive and humanistic decision is made.