Columbus: A county judge could rule Monday on an Ohio law banning nearly all abortions, a decision that will take into account voters’ decision. reproductive rights In the state constitution.

The 2019 law under consideration by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins bans most abortions after heart activity is detected, which can happen up to six weeks into a pregnancy before many women are aware.

A group of abortion clinics sought to overturn the law before voters approved it. Issue 1Which gives every person in Ohio “the right to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions.”

Ohio’s Republican Attorney General, Dave Yost, acknowledged in court filings that the 2023 amendment made the ban unconstitutional, but sought to preserve other elements of the prohibition, including some notification and reporting provisions.

Ohio was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question in 2023, joining a growing number of states where voters are choosing to protect abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The nationwide security was overturned.

In addition to the case before Jenkins, challenges are pending for several others in Ohio abortion ban,

These include a ban on the use of telehealth for medication abortions, a requirement to burn or bury fetal remains obtained from surgical abortions, a requirement for a 24-hour waiting period, and a requirement for abortion clinics to maintain emergency transfer agreements with local hospitals. . In some cases such agreements are made impossible to obtain by the relevant laws.

Ohio’s ban on abortion due to Down syndrome diagnosis will remain in effect after federal court Decision in 2021.

Minority Democrats proposed a House measure to bring state law into compliance with the new amendment outside the courts. His bill, a nonstarter with Ohio’s Republican supermajorities, would have repealed the cardiac activity ban; a ban on dilation and removal, a common second-trimester abortion procedure; Mandatory 24-hour waiting period; Requirement of transfer agreement; and other targeted restrictions on abortion providers.

So far, Ohio’s parental consent law has not been challenged in court nor targeted by Democrats, although the anti-abortion Women’s Safety Ohio campaign has suggested that it would result in passage of Issue 1. .

No lawsuit has also been filed to challenge Ohio’s ban on dilation and extraction, a procedure once used in the third stage of pregnancy. Yost opined during the voter amendment campaign that Issue 1 would open the door to allowing them, despite restrictions on the procedure at the federal level.

The so-called “heartbeat bill” originated in Ohio before spreading across the country. But it took a decade for this policy to become law in the state.

Then-Republican Gov. John Kasich Vetoed the measure twice, arguing that it was unlikely to pass constitutional muster at a time when Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land.

The legislation reached Republican Governor Mike DeWine’s desk and he signed it after judges appointed by former President Donald Trump strengthened the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, raising hopes among abortion opponents that the ban could ultimately be successfully imposed. .