Is time running out for Ohio's 'heartbeat abortion' bill?

Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec 8, 2018 / 16:21 pm

Lawmakers in the Ohio Senate have delayed a key vote on a bill to bar abortions after an unborn baby's heartbeat is detectable. Given Gov. John Kasich's promise to veto the bill, the delay has raised questions about whether an override vote will be possible before the close of the legislative session.

On Dec. 6, the Ohio Senate's Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee chairman Sen. David Burke said there were several amendments to the bill and more time was needed to study them.

"Based on the short timeline that we received the bill from the House, we wanted to make sure people had ample time to testify," said the Senate's Republican spokesman John Fortney, according to the news website Cleveland.com.

The committee vote would have advanced the bill to the Senate floor. While the legislative session officially ends Dec. 31, leading lawmakers have said they are likely to finish by Dec. 19 or sooner.

If H.B. 258 becomes law, it would ban abortions at around six weeks into pregnancy, once a baby's heartbeat is detectable. The law allows exceptions to prevent a woman's death or bodily impairment, or in cases of medical emergency.

The bill's text makes clear that a pregnant woman who undergoes an abortion is not considered in violation of the law. Rather, it allows her to take civil action against the abortion doctor involved if it is proven he or she broke the law, on grounds related to the "wrongful death of the unborn child."

An doctor who performs an abortion in violation of the law would commit a fifth-degree felony, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine, the New York Times reports. The bill requires state inspections of abortion facilities to ensure their compliance with reporting requirements. It also establishes more ways to promote adoption.

Kasich has a strong pro-life record, signing into law at least 18 abortion regulations or restrictions, including a 20-week abortion ban. The heartbeat bill is the only one he has vetoed, doing so in 2016. He is about to leave office in January for governor-elect Mark DeWine, a Republican who supports the legislation.

The governor would have ten days from a bill's passage to veto, excluding Sundays. In the event of a veto, lawmakers would have to return to the capitol to override the veto with a three-fifths vote in each chamber.

While legislators did not have support to override the governor's veto of a 2016 bill, this year the Ohio House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 60-38, exactly the number of votes needed to override. The Senate would need 20 votes to override a veto.

Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof said Senate Republicans support the bill and he anticipated that it will be passed "at some point." There are 24 Republicans currently in the Ohio Senate.

However, some lawmakers travel out of state for the holidays and may not return to vote. Many also hold that lawmakers should rarely override a governor's veto, Cleveland.com reports.

While Kasich has supported pro-life legislation, he has joined critics of the bill who say it contradicts current Supreme Court precedent on abortion.

Backers of the legislation have said it is specially designed to pass Supreme Court scrutiny.

David F. Forte, a law professor at Cleveland-Marshall School of Law at Cleveland State University, in written remarks to the Senate committee said the bill will give the Supreme Court "an opportunity to modify its abortion jurisprudence so that Congress and the states may protect those unborn children who are virtually certain to be born," Cleveland.com reports.

Sen. Peggy Lehner, a supporter of the bill, cited the Supreme Court's repeated support for racial segregation before striking it down. She said she hoped the treatment of unborn babies by the Supreme Court would prove "as successful for the unborn as it was for the African American."

Bill opponent Sen. Charleta Tavares asked several bill backers who spoke to the committee about whether the government would support women and children with services like housing, employment and Medicaid.

Ellen Schleckman, a medical student focusing on obstetrics and gynecology, said the proposed legislation would harm a doctor's ability to give best care to patients and result in fewer doctors wanting to practice medicine in the state.

Despite questions about the bill's future, it still could become law.

"It would be up to the members, obviously, but if it was passed theoretically next week, I think it would come back (for a veto override) before the end of the year," Fortney said, noting this final vote would take place after Christmas.

Ohio law currently bars abortion 20 weeks or more after conception, based on when an unborn child can feel pain. Pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio is considering a legal challenge to that law.

The Ohio Catholic Conference on Nov. 15 said it supports "the life-affirming intent of this legislation," but stopped short of endorsement. The conference said it will continue to assist efforts to resolve "differences related to specific language and strategies."

"In the end, the Catholic Conference of Ohio desires passage of legislation that can withstand constitutional challenge and be implemented in order to save lives," the Catholic conference said.