Ohio Court Temporarily Blocks State’s Six-Week Abortion Ban
- September 16, 2022
An Ohio judge issued September 14 a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the state’s so-called “Heartbeat Act,” which effectively bans abortions after six weeks, finding the law violated the Ohio Constitution.
The order, issued by the Ohio Court of Common Pleas in Hamilton County, will be in place for 14 days.
Under S.B. 23, medical providers face potential felony prosecution for performing abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which is approximately six weeks after the patient’s last menstrual period, with exceptions in medical emergencies and to protect the life of the mother. The law went into effect after the Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade.
Plaintiffs are five corporations that provide reproductive health services, including surgical and medication abortions, and the medical director of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region.
As a threshold issue, the court rejected the state defendants’ argument that plaintiffs lacked standing because none of them were patients to whom S.B. 23 directly applied. “The circumstances that lead women to seek an abortion can be intensely private. It is understandable that many women would be reluctant to place the deeply personal details of their experiences in the public record, even under a pseudonym, in such a highly charged and divisive matter,” the court said in finding plaintiffs had third-party standing to bring the challenge.
Turning to the merits, the court found “[n]o great stretch is required to find that Ohio law recognizes a fundamental right to privacy, procreation, bodily integrity and freedom of choice in health care decision making,” citing the 2011 Health Care Freedom Amendment (HCFA), which was added to the state’s constitution by popular referendum.
The state defendants argued the HCFA was intended to provide a legal basis for Ohioans to avoid the Affordable Care Act, not to outlaw health care regulation in the state. “But this misses the point—as a result of the HCFA, the Ohio Constitution contains a direct recognition of the fundamental nature of the right to freedom in health care decisions,” which include abortions, the court said.
“The HCFA represents an express constitutional acknowledgement of the fundamental nature of the right to freedom and privacy in health care decision making,” the court said in explicitly recognizing “a fundamental right to abortion under Ohio’s Constitution.”
Preterm-Cleveland v. Yost, No. A2203203 (Ohio Ct. Cl. Sept. 14, 2022).