Ohio clinics want abortion ban permanently struck down in wake of constitutional amendment passage
Abortion clinics in Ohio are pushing for a court to strike down abortion restrictions now that voters have written abortion rights into the state constitution, arguing that even the state's Republican attorney general says the amendment invalidates the ban.
The push follows an amendment Ohio voters approved last month that would guarantee access to abortion and other reproductive health care. It came into effect last week.
A law signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in April 2019 banned most abortions after the first detectable “fetal heartbeat.” Heart activity can be detected as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The law was blocked by a federal legal challenge, went into effect briefly when the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned, and then was put on hold again in district court.
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which is hearing the case, but he declined to comment on whether abortion is legal under the state constitution. That had to be fought out at provincial level.
In response to a request for comment, Yost's office referred to a Dec. 7 statement on the state of play, which wrote: “The state is willing to recognize the will of the people on this issue, but also to review every part of assess the matter carefully. law for an orderly resolution of the matter.”
The providers are asking the lower court that initially blocked the ban to permanently scrap the ban.
“The Ohio Constitution now clearly and precisely answers the question before the court — whether the six-week ban is unconstitutional — in the affirmative,” the clinics and ACLU Ohio said in a statement issued Thursday. “The Ohio Constitution is the supreme law of our state and this amendment prevents anti-abortion politicians from passing laws that deny our bodily autonomy and interfere with our personal medical decisions.”
In the complaint, which was updated Thursday to reflect the vote, attorneys for the clinics alleged the ban “violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution, including the right to reproductive freedom.”
The complaint cites Yost's legal analysis that circulated before the vote, which stated that passage of the amendment would invalidate the state's six-week ban, and stated: “Ohio would no longer have the ability to allow abortions at any moment before a fetus is viable.”