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Voting On Ohio Heartbeat Law Delayed
A law under consideration in Ohio would ban all abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. For most pregnancies, this is around 7 weeks gestation.
The bill is being seen as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, which found that women have a right to an abortion up to the point where a fetus becomes viable, around 24 weeks. It is unlikely to stand up in court if it passes. Probably for that reason, the bill is not being supported by Ohio Right To Life. The bill was promoted by a Florida-based group, Faith2Action.
Supporters of the bill are downplaying the delay. According to the Columbus Dispatch:
Committee Chairman Rep. Lynn R. Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, downplayed legal concerns, saying the vote was delayed because more people wanted to testify and “it wasn’t quite ready.” He wouldn’t say how long the bill would remain on hold.
As Jezebel put it, they’re deciding just how unconstitutional they want to get. While this potential law sounds scary, I’m less upset about it than the new abortion restrictions in South Dakota. It’s so obviously unconstitutional that it’s hard to see how it would even pass. If it did, one imagines it would quickly be overthrown in court. The impact on women in Ohio would be awful for the short time the law was in effect, but I can’t see it lasting.
On the other hand, the fact that our current political climate is such that a bill like this could even be seriously considered by a state legislature is pretty chilling. I’ll spare the lecture on how much this flies in the face of women’s rights to choose what happens to their bodies, and just say that it’s a remarkable overreach on the part of anti-choice activists. I hope this is the last we hear of it, and that the bill never comes to a vote.
Photo: Cambodia4kids
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1 Comment
Duane Seigler commented on Mar 24 11 at 2:29 pm
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