(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Abortion remains legal in Ohio up to 22 weeks of pregnancy after an Ohio judge temporarily stopped the state’s six-week ban for the next 14 days.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins said in his ruling Ohio’s fetal heartbeat bill – which went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer and effectively banned abortions after six weeks in the state – did not violate the U.S. Constitution after Roe’s reversal, but it may violate the Ohio Constitution.
“No great stretch is required to find that Ohio law recognizes a fundamental right to privacy, procreation, bodily integrity and freedom of choice in health care decision making,” the ruling read. “In 2011, the Ohio Constitution was amended by popular referendum to adopt the Health Care Freedom 13.”
Among other things, that amendment prohibited federal, state or local law from stopping the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance, and prohibited federal, state or local laws from imposing penalties or fines for the sale or purchase or sale of health care.
Under Senate Bill 23, a doctor who conducts an abortion after the fetal heartbeat could face up to a year in prison with a fifth-degree felony. The State Medical Board could also take further disciplinary action, which could include up to $20,000 in fines.
“We’re grateful that, for now, Ohioans can once again widely access abortion care in their own state. But this is just the first step,” a statement from the plaintiffs said after the ruling. “We have already seen the devastating impact Senate Bill 23 has had on people seeking abortions in Ohio. State lawmakers will stop at nothing to try again to permanently restrict our reproductive rights; their cruelty knows no bounds. We remain intensely committed to defending against any and all attempts to limit Ohioans’ constitutional right to access the full range of reproductive health care in their home state.”
The ruling came 12 days after the ACLU, ACLU of Ohio and Planned Parenthood Federation of American filed for the injunction of SB23, which took effect in June and banned abortion in the state at about six weeks of pregnancy.
The groups also asked the judge to block the law for the rest of the case.
