News
Featured Image
Ohio capitol buildingShutterstock

(LifeSiteNews) — The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to review a judge’s order blocking pro-life legislation from taking effect.

On Tuesday, the state’s highest court granted part of an appeal made by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost to challenge the order, which has prevented a bill designed to ban abortion once a heartbeat is detected.

After the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, which returned the full responsibility of abortion legislation to individual states, HB 258 was temporarily blocked by a judge’s order. The legal battle has been ongoing since.

In October 2022, Yost’s office announced its plans to appeal the order, questioning whether the “heartbeat bill” is unjust or if complaints are simply dissatisfaction from abortion advocates. He filed the appeal in January after the First District Court of Appeals rejected the attorney general’s first attempt to appeal the order. The motion to appeal was accepted in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court and will be reviewed to determine the next steps of Ohio’s pro-life legislation.

However, the court denied Yost’s request to review efforts to enshrine a “right” to abortion in the Ohio constitution, as noted by Fox News.

The bill, passed in the House in 2018, would effectively ban abortions once a heartbeat is detected around six weeks’ gestation, leaving exceptions in cases of potential death or “irreversible damage” to the mother. However, until the order is lifted, abortion remains legal in Ohio during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, which follows a law signed in 2011 to prohibit killing unborn babies who have reached viability.

Months after the Dobbs decision, when the federal government no longer prevented the enactment of the state’s pro-life bill and before the injunction had been made, Christian leaders in Ohio called on state leadership to expand abortion bans to reach throughout an entire pregnancy.

“Abortion is infanticide and never was a right expressly written in the U.S. Constitution,” the letter, signed by 160 clergymen, stated. “This diabolical decision allowed the murder of an unborn child on demand up to birth led to the untimely deaths of at least 63 million unborn children and caused America to be a reproach among the nations.”

The Christians requested legislation be passed to criminalize the murder of the unborn, holding abortionists guilty of manslaughter punishable by a minimum of four and maximum of 25 years in prison.

Since the federal government returned authority over abortion laws to state leaders, abortion advocates in Ohio have pushed for not only the blocking of the “heartbeat bill” but also passing legislation that would ensure women’s ability to kill their unborn children.

In December, the pro-abortion Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (OPRR) launched an advocacy group called Protect Choice Ohio. The new organization said it is “committed to reproductive freedom [sic] in the post-Roe era” and announced plans to introduce a constitutional amendment to ensure legal access to abortion across the state. The amendment’s language was approved on Tuesday, March 14 by the Ohio Ballot Board, clearing the way for abortion supporters to gather the required signatures to place it on the November 7, 2023 general election ballot.

RELATED:

Pro-life leaders warn radical Ohio abortion amendment ‘even more dangerous’ than previously feared

Biden’s LGBT mandate for school lunches ‘violates basic human dignity’: Ohio attorney general

1 Comments

    Loading...