“Ohio voters have spoken. The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion,” Jenkins wrote in his decision in Preterm-Cleveland v. David Yost in October.
The Heartbeat Law had an injunction on it prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, but it was in effect for about 11 weeks following the decision before Jenkins issued a preliminary injunction.
The heartbeat law nearly closed Women’s Med Group Professional Corporation’s location in Kettering before the initial preliminary injunction was issued.
Seeking a review after the October decision is a necessary and appropriate step, a spokesperson for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said.
The state believes there are provisions in the Heartbeat Law not addressed by the recent constitutional amendment but did not provide more specifics.
“The state respects the will of the people regarding the six-week abortion ban, but the state is also obligated to protect provisions in SB23, as passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, that the constitutional amendment does not address. It is up to the courts to determine how conflicts between those two documents are resolved,” a statement from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said.
The Heartbeat Law contains a provision that if any part of it is deemed invalid, other parts of that law can still be in effect without the invalid provision or application.
Other sections of the Heartbeat Law include:
- Rules on the documentation and reporting of abortions
- Acknowledgments about the likelihood of viability
- Definitions for terms used within the law
- Rulemaking requirements about how to detect a fetal heartbeat
- A list of claims about pregnancy, abortion and fetal viability that are according to “contemporary medical research” without citing the medical research behind those statements
- A requirement for the Ohio Department of Health “to consult with independent health care experts” on the information is publishes online about pregnancy, repealing the previous requirement that it needed to consult with Ohio State Medical Association and the Ohio section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- State medical board enforcement of the law and penalties for violating it
- Circumstances for a woman who received an abortion to bring a wrongful death action for her unborn child
- Foster care and adoption initiatives
Ohio’s constitutional amendment protecting reproductive decisions, including abortion, establishes that people cannot be penalized for having an abortion or assisting someone with an abortion. It says abortions can be prohibited at the point of fetal viability, but that must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Yost previously attempted to appeal the court’s preliminary injunction on the Heartbeat Law before the constitutional amendment was approved by voters. Afterward, the Ohio Supreme Court tossed the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
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