Abortion clinics across Ohio are now offering same-day services after a judge blocked a state law requiring a 24-hour waiting period to access care, the first ruling on reproductive rights since voters legalized and protected access to abortion in 2023.
Thanks to a court in Columbus, Ohio, there are now fewer obstacles to accessing abortion.
“It’s life-changing for a lot of them because it means they actually have access to health care on their own time,” Jaime Miracle of Abortion Forward said, referring to patients.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young temporarily blocked a state law that Miracle said burdens patients.
“Waiting periods force abortion providers to evade this obligation by denying time-limited care for a specified minimum period, putting the health and well-being of patients at risk,” Young wrote.
The law required two in-person visits within a 24-hour waiting period to receive medication or an abortion.
“Most people who have abortions in our state and across the country already have children at home, so not only are they trying to juggle their schedules and take time off from work, but they’re also trying to find additional care for their child in not just one day, but two,” Miracle added. “They have to travel multiple times.”
The ruling also halted the requirement for doctors to provide patients with certain information, including regarding medical risks and the probable gestational age of the zygote, blastocyte, embryo or fetus.
This order is already having an effect.
“Patients who expected to come back twice were able to have their abortions at the clinic that same day,” Miracle reported.
Cleveland’s Preterm and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio began offering services on the same day, she added.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said he doesn’t think abortions should happen at all, but he thinks the waiting period seems reasonable.
“The idea is to make sure that for something this important there is enough time to decide whether we want to do something or not, and that is irreversible,” Cirino said.
In November 2023, voters overwhelmingly voted to protect access to abortion by enshrining this right in the state constitution.
Still, Attorney General Dave Yost plans to appeal the ruling. Cirino added that there is nothing unconstitutional about regulating what doctors can do.
“People have spoken out, but that does not mean that the state Legislature, which is responsible for the safety and well-being of its citizens, cannot reasonably maintain the level of control and restrictions that we deem appropriate,” the lawmaker said.
Judge Young is a Democrat, so it will likely be rejected outright and ultimately go to the Ohio Supreme Court.
This means the abortion issue will be on the ballot again in the fall.
“You need to vote for Supreme Court justices who will enforce the amendment, not ignore it, so that it actually impacts the lives of patients like this ruling did last week,” Miracle said.
Three of the court’s seven seats are open — two Democrats and one Republican are running for re-election.
But there is one more critical case to be considered on Thursday.
Yost asked the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas to dismiss a lawsuit that would have eliminated a ban on abortions at six weeks of pregnancy, just months after finding that the ban would be invalid if voters chose to legalize and protect access to abortion. That came after the Supreme Court rejected his argument and sent it back to a lower court.
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“This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ stories, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
