The Ohio state legislature has passed two abortion bills that Gov. John Kasich has now acted on. He refused to sign the “heartbeat bill,” which would have banned abortion after the developing child’s heart begins to beat. That can be as early as six weeks, which is before many women even realize they are pregnant. Kasich said that bill would certainly have been struck down by the courts. That’s probably right, but that the child develops such a universal sign of life so early should surely tell the world something about what even early abortion does, namely, kills a human life.
Kasich did sign a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, joining 15 other states. Pro-lifers in Ohio applauded the limit, though I’m not sure what it accomplishes. Pro-abortionists are indignant about both bills.
In other news, here in Oklahoma, the doctor who performs half the abortions in the state was refused hospital admitting privileges, as required by state law. So he sued the state. He won the case and the law was struck down.
The Oklahoma Board of Health did approve of a measure that would require hospitals, schools, and restaurants to post signs in their public restrooms informing pregnant women where they can find help without getting an abortion.
From Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs 20-Week Abortion Limit, Rejects ‘Heartbeat Bill’ : The Two-Way : NPR:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a 20-week gestation limit for abortions into law Tuesday, while separately vetoing a measure that would have banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable.
The so-called heartbeat bill, which Kasich rejected, was considered more vulnerable to legal challenge. Provisions of the measure would have essentially limited the period during which women could get an abortion to about six weeks, when many women don’t even realize they’re pregnant, reports the Associated Press.
Similar measures have faced legal challenges in other states, the news service goes on to say, a fact weighing heavily in Kasich’s veto defense. Kasich, himself an abortion-rights opponent, noted bans in two other states had been declared unconstitutional.
“The State of Ohio will be the losing party in that lawsuit and, as the losing party, the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists’ lawyers. Furthermore, such a defeat invites additional challenges to Ohio’s strong legal protections for unborn life,” the Republican governor said in a statement.
Fifteen other states have 20-week bans, the AP says.
Furthermore, unlike the so-called heartbeat ban, the 20-week ban had the support of the state’s most prominent anti-abortion-rights group, who praised the governor for signing the legislation.
“The 20-week ban was nationally designed to be the vehicle to end abortion in America,” said Ohio Right to Life in a statement.
Abortion-rights supporters were quick to decry both bans.
Photo by Michael Vadon (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
