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Ohio Republicans have begun passing anti-abortion bills that seek to circumvent an amendment to the state constitution protecting reproductive rights. Abortion rights supporters are frustrated but determined to fight.
Voters overwhelmingly voted to protect access to abortion in 2023.
Issue 1 passed 57-43%, including reproductive rights in the state constitution.
Provides that Ohioans have the right to make their own decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and pregnancy continuation.
The state cannot interfere with or punish a person for exercising this right, or punish anyone else – including health care workers – for helping them.
“We’re seeing bill after bill trying to undo the will of the voters,” said abortion rights advocate Jaime Miracle.
Despite voters speaking out, Miracle said that doesn’t stop Republican lawmakers from trying to add barriers to access.
“We have legislators who are proving once again why we went to vote by ignoring the will of the people, ignoring the pro-abortion majority in our state and trying to pass more abortion restrictions that Ohio voters don’t want,” she said.
Republicans have introduced several bills that would affect reproductive rights.
State Sen. Kyle Koehler of Springfield has introduced bill SB 309, which could add steps to access the abortion pill mifepristone.
“[The bill] “provides a framework for health care providers to educate women about the risks of chemical abortion and make her aware that she and her family have the right to sue if the pill causes complications, injury, a failed abortion or death,” Koehler said.
The legislation creates a speech for doctors outlining the risks of using Mifepristone to patients and requires the person to sign an informed consent document.
It allows the patient, the father of the fetus or the grandparents if the patient is a minor to file a lawsuit if they believe the patient was uninformed while taking the pill.
In an interview Wednesday, he said he was focused on reaching online mail-order providers rather than existing brick-and-mortar abortion clinics in Ohio.
“We’re not trying to stop them and we’re trying to respect the constitution,” Koehler said.
“Just [making] they certainly know that they have rights and that women who take mifepristone without seeing a doctor can and have reportedly experienced unintended consequences.
Miracle explains that medication abortion is unthreatening and highly regulated, something doctors must now defend at the Statehouse as another GOP bill tries to ban mail-order abortion pills.
“This is anti-abortion propaganda foisted on healthcare providers and their patients,” Miracle said.
Another bill on abortion that was adopted by the House is the so-called HB 485which would require fifth-graders and older to watch “Meet Baby Olivia,” a GOP-backed animated fetal development video created by the anti-abortion organization Live Action, or a very similar video.
“Children are a gift, and we hope that we can change the culture to celebrate life, not destroy it,” said state Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland.
The film teaches that life begins at conception and passes through each stage of development. Miracle stated that the video was inappropriate.
“It’s not scientifically accurate,” she said. “It’s not even visually accurate.”
Kellie Copeland, who works with Miracle at Abortion Forward, explained more about the information inconsistencies.
“It does not include a pregnant person; it includes idealized images of fetal development,” Copeland said.
“It doesn’t talk about complications, things that can go wrong. It’s not about accuracy from a medical point of view.”
The development cycle and graphics shown in the video conflict with research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Miller, however, believes it is precise and may facilitate in understanding pregnancy because abstinence-only sex education is taught in Ohio.
“A visible, engaging tool that will help them really understand these early stages of life,” Miller said during floor debate before its passage.
Meanwhile, some activists continue to call for an outright ban on abortion, but GOP leaders say that seems unlikely.
However, when asked about abortion legislation in the fall, House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, referred to a bill that would restore a 24-hour waiting period for abortion services.
“Ohio has actually put extremely broad abortion rights into our constitution,” he said, but noted that there are all kinds of regulations regarding constitutional rights.
“The 24-hour rule – does it prohibit anyone from having an abortion? Probably not,” Huffman said. “What if it was 12 hours? What if it was 1 hour? You know… at some point absolutism can’t rule the day according to what the constitution says.”
Despite this, all of these laws are still unconstitutional, according to Miracle.
“We will fight this every step of the way,” Miracle said.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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