Ohio Lawmakers Pass New “Heartbeat Bill” Banning Abortions

After that bill passed the Ohio Senate, it went to the state House for debate.

Heartbeat Bill passes Ohio House 56-39. The vote broke down mostly along party lines, though a few House Republicans voted against it and two House Democrats voted in favor.

Kasich, a moderate Catholic Republican in many ways, is staunchly anti-abortion, with the exception of cases involving rape or incest. “This is just flat out the right thing to do”, he said. Given all of the likely legal challenges the bill will face if signed into law, it’s worth noting the reasoning behind the renewed interest.

The Heartbeat Bill divided pro-lifers across OH because some thought it will lead to a possible Supreme Court reaffirmation of Roe v Wade. “There’s a reason why no state has a “Heartbeat Bill” yet”. “This is not one of them”.

The bill, which could outlaw abortion as early as six weeks after conception, would be one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the USA if it becomes law.

In February, Kasich labeled himself “pro-life with the exceptions of rape, incest and the life of the mother”.

Though the bill has been considered before and rejected by the Senate, Ohio legislators said this seemed like the right time to raise it again.

Previous year a similar ban on abortion in North Dakota was struck down by a federal court.

In June, abortion rights supporters celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down Texas laws that attempted to restrict abortions.

The group’s executive director Kellie Copeland said: ‘This bill would effectively outlaw abortion and criminalize physicians that provide this care to their patients’. During the 1950s and 1960s, approximately 5,000 women per year died as a result of illegal abortions. A 2013 law requires an OH doctor to perform an ultrasound before a woman can get an abortion; if the ultrasound detects a heartbeat, the doctor must offer the woman the chance to listen to it or view the ultrasound image.

There is nothing magical or medical about cardiac activity at 6 weeks, the Ohio Bill is simply created to limit abortion 1.

OH may soon have the strictest abortion laws in America. The report shows that the steady decline that has been occurring over the past 15 years continued in 2015, with a slight drop to 20,976 abortions reported in the state. It was expected the legislation could be folded into a measure that would ban abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Officials for the Pro-Choice Ohio organization say the bill is unconstitutional and unfairly penalizes doctors.

The bill bans anyone from performing an abortion without checking for a fetal heartbeat or proceeding with the abortion if a heartbeat is detected – usually around the six-week point of a pregnancy.