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A memorial to unborn victims of abortion erected by the Knights of Columbus in the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida.Cliff / Flickr

COLUMBUS, Ohio, December 8, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Ohio lawmakers approved legislation that would require abortion facilities to either bury or cremate the remains of the preborn babies they kill, ensuring they will not be disposed of as medical waste.

Senate Bill 27 would enable women seeking abortions to choose one of the two methods of final dispensation, Catholic News Agency reported, with an abortion facility having to choose one or the other if she opts not to. The abortion facility would be responsible for the expenses unless the woman opts for an alternative means. Any facility that fails to comply would face first-degree misdemeanor charges; the woman would face no charges.

SB27 passed the Ohio Senate in March 2019 and finally cleared the Ohio House on December 3. It now awaits a likely signature from Republican Gov. Mike DeWine before it can become law.

“The unborn victims of abortion deserve the same basic decency that we afford to all humans: a dignified burial,” Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis said after the news. “Although we look forward to the day when we no longer have to lay to rest the broken bodies of Ohio’s abortion victims, we are proud to say that our state has taken another step towards recognizing not only the humanity of the unborn, but of ourselves as well.”

Motivated by horror stories about abortion facilities destroying the babies they kill with methods such as “big ovens,” or abortionists stockpiling corpses on their own property, bills such as SB27 are meant to prevent the bodies of aborted children from being treated like medical waste, both out of respect for their dignity and to call attention to the humanity of abortion’s victims.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court reiterated that states have a “legitimate interest in proper disposal of fetal remains,” in upholding a similar provision of an Indiana pro-life law.