COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The most far-reaching of Ohio’s laws restricting abortion was struck down on Thursday by a county judge who said last year’s voter-approved amendment enshrining reproductive rights renders the so-called heartbeat law unconstitutional.
Enforcement of the 2019 law banning most abortions once cardiac activity is detected — as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant — had been paused pending the challenge before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins.
Jenkins said that when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned power over the abortion issue to the states, “Ohio’s Attorney General evidently didn’t get the memo.”
The article doesn’t make it clear what was really going on here.
So the head line is that last year Ohio passed a constitutional measure protecting abortion up to viability. The actual thing they did though was much deeper. They made the doctor and the mother the legal point of decision for the mother’s healthcare, including abortion. So if the doctor says the fetus isn’t viable, that’s it. Nobody can come in and prosecute the doctor. They also made it unconstitutional to indirectly interfere with this care.
The Ohio AG tried to say, okay you got me on the abortion. But all the counseling, waiting period, video recording of the procedure, reporting, and felony penalties for screwing any of that up are still in place.
The judge called him on his bullshit and ruled all of that unconstitutional. So doctor/patient based healthcare is the law of the land in Ohio again.