Latest news with #OhioPrenatalEqualProtectionAct
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Ohio Republicans to introduce bill that would treat abortion as homicide and ban all procedures in the state
©UK Independent Today at 03:28 Ohio Republicans are introducing a bill to ban all abortions in the state by classifying the procedure as homicide. Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce the "Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act' on Wednesday, which would classify abortion as homicide. Austin Beigel, founder of End Abortion Ohio, told The Independent the bill will 'make a positive affirmation of the personhood of the pre-born.'
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio Republicans to introduce bill that would treat abortion as homicide and ban all procedures in the state
Ohio Republicans are introducing a bill to ban all abortions in the state by classifying the procedure as homicide. Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce the "Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act' on Wednesday, which would classify abortion as homicide. Austin Beigel, founder of End Abortion Ohio, told The Independent the bill will 'make a positive affirmation of the personhood of the pre-born.' In 2023, Ohio residents voted to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution. Since then, judges have struck down legislation that seeks to limit or ban abortion access despite the amendment. The legislation will almost certainly face legal challenges if it passes. Beigel told The Independent the goal of the bill is to 'create an immediate conflict between our state's the U.S. Constitution, which declares that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of the law.' Beigel hopes legal challenges to the bill could rise as far as the Supreme Court. The bill could also end in vitro fertilization in the state and ban some forms of contraception, including IUDs, The Columbus Dispatch reports. Beigel said IVF clinics 'will not be able to operate the way they are right now' under the legislation, but noted the bill does not mention contraception. Several abortion rights advocates — and even some anti-abortion activists — have come out against the bill. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said his organization doesn't support the bill. 'We have never supported criminalizing a woman for having an abortion, and we never will,' Gonidakis told the Dispatch. 'It's completely out of bounds and inappropriate.' "This isn't even a Hail Mary," he added. "It's a strategy that won't be successful at the legislative level and it's a strategy that won't be successful at the judicial level." Beigel said End Abortion Ohio doesn't align with Ohio Right to Life: 'We do not have the same goals, because Ohio Right to Life does not want to abolish abortion, they want to regulate abortion.' Kellie Copeland, executive director of the advocacy group Abortion Forward, called the bill's supporters 'out-of-touch anti-abortion extremists.' "This would strip Ohioans' ability to make decisions for our lives, health and well-being, including banning all abortion care, banning some types of birth control, and denying IVF treatment that helps people build their families,' Copeland told the Dispatch. The Supreme Court enshrined abortion access as a Constitutional right in the 1973 case Roe v Wade. But the nation's highest court overturned the ruling in 2022 with its 6-3 decision on Dobbs v Jackson. Since then, abortion has been banned in 12 states, while six states have instituted a gestational limit between six and 12 weeks. But most people don't know they're pregnant until their first missed period, which means many don't find out until after six weeks. Georgia is one of the states which bans abortion after six weeks. There, Atlanta resident Adriana Smith was kept alive on life support for months after doctors declared her brain dead so she could carry out her pregnancy. Her family says doctors kept her on life support due to the gestational limit law. The 30-year-old was two months pregnant when she was declared brain-dead in February. Her family said she gave birth via C-section on June 13 to a baby boy. The Independent has contacted End Abortion Ohio, Dean and Newman for comment.
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ohio Republicans to introduce bill that would treat abortion as homicide and ban all procedures in the state
Ohio Republicans are introducing a bill to ban all abortions in the state by classifying the procedure as homicide. Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce the " Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act ' on Wednesday, which would classify abortion as homicide. Austin Beigel, founder of End Abortion Ohio, told The Independent the bill will 'make a positive affirmation of the personhood of the pre-born.' In 2023, Ohio residents voted to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution. Since then, judges have struck down legislation that seeks to limit or ban abortion access despite the amendment. The legislation will almost certainly face legal challenges if it passes. Beigel told The Independent the goal of the bill is to 'create an immediate conflict between our state's the U.S. Constitution, which declares that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of the law.' Beigel hopes legal challenges to the bill could rise as far as the Supreme Court. The bill could also end in vitro fertilization in the state and ban some forms of contraception, including IUDs, The Columbus Dispatch reports. Beigel said IVF clinics 'will not be able to operate the way they are right now' under the legislation, but noted the bill does not mention contraception. Several abortion rights advocates — and even some anti-abortion activists — have come out against the bill. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said his organization doesn't support the bill. 'We have never supported criminalizing a woman for having an abortion, and we never will,' Gonidakis told the Dispatch. 'It's completely out of bounds and inappropriate.' "This isn't even a Hail Mary," he added. "It's a strategy that won't be successful at the legislative level and it's a strategy that won't be successful at the judicial level." Beigel said End Abortion Ohio doesn't align with Ohio Right to Life: 'We do not have the same goals, because Ohio Right to Life does not want to abolish abortion, they want to regulate abortion.' Kellie Copeland, executive director of the advocacy group Abortion Forward, called the bill's supporters 'out-of-touch anti-abortion extremists.' "This would strip Ohioans' ability to make decisions for our lives, health and well-being, including banning all abortion care, banning some types of birth control, and denying IVF treatment that helps people build their families,' Copeland told the Dispatch. The Supreme Court enshrined abortion access as a Constitutional right in the 1973 case Roe v Wade. But the nation's highest court overturned the ruling in 2022 with its 6-3 decision on Dobbs v Jackson. Since then, abortion has been banned in 12 states, while six states have instituted a gestational limit between six and 12 weeks. But most people don't know they're pregnant until their first missed period, which means many don't find out until after six weeks. Georgia is one of the states which bans abortion after six weeks. There, Atlanta resident Adriana Smith was kept alive on life support for months after doctors declared her brain dead so she could carry out her pregnancy. Her family says doctors kept her on life support due to the gestational limit law. said she gave birth via C-section on June 13 to a baby boy.
15 hours ago
- Politics
Ohio lawmakers to introduce bill banning abortion, criminalizing the procedure
Republican lawmakers in Ohio are planning on introducing a bill on Wednesday that would ban almost all abortions and criminalize the procedure. The " Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act" would overturn the amendment to the Ohio constitution, voted on in 2023, that establishes "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion" before viability. Reproductive medical treatment includes contraception, fertility treatments and miscarriage care. Abortions are currently allowed up to 20 weeks since fertilization, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that studies sexual and reproductive rights. "[It] is a very, very simple and beautiful piece of legislation in that all it does is identify all human beings as persons deserving equal protection of the law, both born humans and pre-born humans," anti-abortion advocate Austin Beigel, with End Abortion Ohio, told ABC News. "So, it identifies those personhood rights starting at the moment of fertilization, when the new distinct organism is formed, the new human life that being that person now has equal protection under the law." Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward, which helped pass the 2023 amendment in Ohio, said the bill goes against the will of voters. "This is the most extreme and anti-life legislation that you can imagine," she told ABC News. "It would strip Ohioans of their constitutionally guaranteed right to bodily autonomy, and that's the goal of this legislation." When Beigel was asked if he was concerned that the bill may go against the will of the voters, he said he was not because "the will of the voters was evil." "In many times in our country's history, the majority of people have desired evil things. We have discriminated horribly against the Black man and woman, and people wanted that," he continued. "So, I have no qualms about saying I oppose the majority of the will of the people when the people desire something that is evil." Copeland replied that "subjecting people to the loss of bodily autonomy, taking basic human rights away from Ohioans is the real evil that we're talking about here." Beigel said he has been working with Republican state Reps. Levi Dean and Jonathan Newman on the bill, which uses the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause -- part of the Fourteenth Amendment -- to override Ohio's constitutional amendment. Beigel said the co-sponsors will be announced on Wednesday. Dean's and Newman's offices did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment. The bill would ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions would be for a spontaneous miscarriage or to save the life of the pregnant woman. The bill would also criminalize those who have abortions, not just the providers who perform the procedure. Copeland she is worried the bill could lead to attacks on people who support abortion rights or who underwent abortions. "When people equate reproductive health care with murder, that kind of rhetoric invites violence," Copeland said. "It invites violence that we have seen at abortion clinics that we have seen perpetrated against abortion providers." Beigel said the bill does not outlaw contraception and is not designed to outlaw in-vitro fertilization (IVF). However, he did say that IVF may not be able to function the way that it does now if the bill is passed because it would apply equal protection to "pre-born humans." "The courts are going to have to debate the implications of this," he said. "Is it actually moral to freeze a young human being in a cryochamber and preserve them at the age they are and not let them grow?" Ohio's history of abortion bills In 2019, Ohio lawmakers passed a so-called heartbeat bill that bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, which occurs as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine. The ban had no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions were cases of ectopic pregnancies and to prevent the mother's death or impairment of a major bodily function. A federal judge blocked the ban in 2019, but it was reinstated just hours after the Supreme Court decision to overrule Roe v. Wade. In September 2022, an Ohio lower court granted a temporary restraining order before granting a preliminary injunction a few weeks later. In December 2023, the state's Supreme Court dismissed the state's appeal and sent the case back to the lower courts. In November 2023, 57% of voters approved the passing of the amendment, adding abortion protections to the state constitution. Much of the six-week ban was rendered unconstitutional after the amendment went into effect in December 2023, Ohio's Attorney General Dave Yost said earlier this year. However, some lawmakers have tried to maintain other parts of the ban, including reporting requirements and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be administered. An Ohio judge in August 2024.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio reproductive rights advocates say they're time-tested for the coming battles and attacks
Abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion advocates protesting outside of the U.S. Supreme Court.(Getty Images) Reproductive rights have been enshrined in the Ohio Constitution since 2023. Those who support those rights are readying themselves as rumblings of more ban attempts and disappearing federal government websites indicate times of struggle to come. 'It is bleak and I think in a lot of ways these are fights we've already fought, but we are also seeing new and scarier things take place,' said Jordyn Close, deputy director of the Ohio Women's Alliance. In Ohio, anti-abortion activists are looking forRepublican lawmakers to introduce the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, which would attempt to overthrow the reproductive rights amendment passed by 57% of Ohio voters in 2023 by asserting that it violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, an argument legal experts have routinely criticized. Meanwhile, with the dawn of the Trump administration last month, national anti-abortion measures began rolling out almost immediately. The week of his inauguration, one of the many executive orders President Donald Trump signed was meant to enforce the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion services. That order also undid two Biden-era executive orders meant to increase access to abortion services. Trump also reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a Reagan-era order to bar foreign non-governmental organizations who receive federal funding for family planning from offering abortion as one option for families, and from referring to or counseling on abortion-related services. Even earlier in his new term, Trump used the power of the pardon to release nearly two dozen individuals who were convicted on federal charges for blocking access to abortion clinics. He also gave a video speech at this year's March for Life rally in D.C., a rally Vice President J.D. Vance, a former Ohio senator, attended in person. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX But one of the first things that Americans noticed when the administration changed hands was the elimination of government websites, including the website that provided information on reproductive health resources. 'In general, it's so devastating that that has been taken off, because misinformation and stigma is actually the reason we're in this situation with abortion access,' said Lexis Dotson-Dufault, executive director of Abortion Fund Ohio. Dotson-Dufault said her organization, which is not a clinic but a referral and resources service, served 6,100 people in 2024. The need continues to grow based on its service numbers, which amounted to fewer than 1,000 requests in 2021. 'Abortion funds exist because administrations long before Trump were not serving our communities in the best way possible,' Dotson-Dufault said. 'That's why we say Roe (v. Wade) was never enough, because if Roe was enough, we wouldn't need abortion funds that serve thousands and thousands of people.' Because of the clear danger advocates see to the distribution of information about reproductive rights services, conversations in the community are going to become an even bigger part of the outreach abortion funds do. 'Our communities need to know this, it needs to be common information,' Dotson-Dufault said. 'It's really something free that people can do is sharing pro-abortion, accurate medical information.' For Close and the Ohio Women's Alliance, bringing those resources to the public also means prioritizing 'investing in wellness this year across all our programs.' They said that includes focusing on the Black community, for which state infant and maternal mortality numbers have ranked among the worst in the country. 'We are trying to really meet the need, the fullness of what the reproductive experience is for the average Black birthing person, whether that be abortion or other reproductive care,' Close said. Advocates are still resolute about the power of the constitutional amendment in Ohio. 'The people of Ohio made it clear what they wanted,' Close said. 'Whether or not (legislators) seek to further erode the little democracy that is left in this state, I think no matter what happens, we have an amazing legal team, and we have the support of Ohioans.' In January, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress didn't waste time in bringing up bills related to abortion, one in the Senate that aimed to create penalties for health care providers who fail to care for a fetus after an attempted abortion. Laws are already in place to criminalize killing a child or an adult under federal law. The Senate bill was introduced on Jan. 15, and had 46 cosponsors, including Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. Democrats have successfully stalled progress on the Senate bill. Sponsors needed at least 60 senators to approve it, but it was defeated in a 52-47 procedural vote, with no Democratic votes in favor. But bills like these and the anti-abortion sentiments publicly expressed by federal and state Republicans have driven some state medical professionals to speak up in their own way. Dr. Lauren Beene, a founder of the advocacy group Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights — which championed the effort to amend the Ohio Constitution to include reproductive rights including abortion care — said her group is working on 'physician advocacy trainings,' to help doctors speak up. 'We're trying to empower doctors, help them understand how they can talk about reproductive rights,' Beene told the Capital Journal. 'I think a lot of doctors don't realize their voice.' Physicians were spotlighted in the fight for the reproductive rights amendment after abortion bans and different regulations having to do with abortion services (including miscarriage care) caused doctors to question their own power to advise their patients. They wondered whether they'd be in legal trouble for fulfilling their medical oaths. The grassroots trainings Beene has been a part of seek to help doctors recognize the resources and where to send patients, along with working with larger institutions like hospital systems and medical societies to make sure the correct information is getting to the public. 'I think that there's so much misinformation right now, and doctors have the ability to combat that through clearly explaining the facts and the science,' Beene said. Uncertainty is still a problem or the doctors Beene has been in contact with. 'You could roll the dice and be surprised about what's going to happen today,' she said. 'This particular year is a scary time that we're living in, and I think that the more that we can do to prepare and empower doctors to continue to just speak out to whoever the more that we are all encouraged to do that, I think the better things will be,' Beene said. In a legislative move separate from the U.S. Senate bill, a U.S. House resolution to bring about 'equal protection' under the 14th Amendment 'for the right to life of each born and preborn human person' was introduced on Jan. 24, and has 69 cosponsors, including Ohio Republican Reps. Warren Davidson and David Taylor. This is national legislation that attempts the same argument that anti-abortion activists want to see made with the legislation in Ohio. The U.S. House bill is still active, having been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary the same day it was introduced. The chair of that House committee is Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan. These moves on the federal level don't come necessarily as a surprise to reproductive rights advocates, having spent years in Ohio under a Republican-controlled General Assembly and governor who have been staunch in their anti-abortion stances. Advocates were also unsurprised to see the state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Dave Yost, is appealing a court decision that overturned the six-week abortion ban, though Yost has said his appeal argues that other laws, abortion-related or not, could be undone by the constitutional amendment. 'We have to remember the power that we have, and that these systems have not served us well in the past,' Dotson-Dufault said. Despite the 'cascade of terrible, horrendous headlines' over the last month or so, Close said the onslaught has allowed new people to ride the wave into activism. 'I know that our communities are scared right now, but I also know that a lot of people are getting engaged in ways that they weren't before,' Close said. 'I hope they let their rage, and sadness and fear pour out and create a stronger community that can fight these injustices.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
