Ohio’s Legal Battle Over Abortion Rights Heats Up – Providers Challenge Heartbeat Law Amid Constitutional Amendment

Providers of abortion in Ohio move to repeal the heartbeat law following the ratification of the amendment. (Photo: Washington Examiner)

Ohio Abortion Providers Rally Against Restrictive Heartbeat Law

The “heartbeat”  rule in Ohio said that abortions could only happen up to six weeks into a pregnancy. Abortion providers in Ohio want to fight this rule. It comes after lawmakers last month proposed and approved a new constitutional amendment. This change would make it possible for more abortions. As long as a doctor agrees, the change, which became law on December 7, means that anyone can have an abortion for any reason.

Strong proponents of the abortion amendment, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the ACLU of Ohio, have expanded their initial complaint regarding the heartbeat rule.

The people involved have asked the court to look at the case in light of the new change. People call Ohio’s six-week law and similar bills in other states “heartbeat bills” because they make it illegal to have an abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be found.

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Governor’s Law Faces Opposition as Abortion Providers Seek Repeal

A protest in support of the Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment was held recently at the Ohio State House in Columbus, Ohio. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights created it. Several abortion clinics in the state brought the case. The plaintiffs said that the latest filing is an important step in their long-running fight against the extreme and illegal six-week abortion ban. They stressed that the Ohio Constitution now clearly says that the six-week ban is illegal, which is the question that the court needs to answer.

When the amendment went into force, Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, whose office had been defending the six-week law, sent a brief saying that the amendment was more important than the act’s main parts. Still, the state asked the court not to talk about the case’s merits. Instead, it said that procedural problems should be dealt with first, and then the case’s substance should be talked about. Governor Mike DeWine signed the heartbeat measure into law in April 2019, even though he didn’t agree with the change. The courts have stopped it, though, because there are open cases.

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