Referendum Upheld: Ohio State Court Strikes Down ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Law

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A county court judge has permanently blocked an effort by Ohio’s attorney general to enforce a 2019 law banning abortion at six week’s gestation, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost sought to enforce the ‘heartbeat bill’ despite last year’s voter-approved amendment to enshrine the right to abortion under Ohio’s state constitution.

After nearly 60% of voters approved adding reproductive rights—including the right to abortion—to the state’s constitution in November 2023, the court issued its first permanent injunction reflecting this mandate.

In his ruling on Thursday (October 25), County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins noted that Yost was seeking to enforce almost the entirety of the abortion ban signed into law by Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019.

Ohio’s Attorney General “evidently didn’t get the memo” that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022 and returned the issue of abortion to individual states to decide, Jenkins said.

“Ohio voters have spoken. The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion,” the ruling stated. “To give meaning to the voice of Ohio’s voters, the amendment must be given full effect, and laws such as those enacted [the act] must be permanently enjoined.”

“Despite the adoption of a broad and strongly worded constitutional amendment, in this case, and others, the State of Ohio seeks not to uphold the constitutional protection of abortion rights, but to diminish and limit it,” Jenkins wrote.

In court papers filed in the spring, Yost acknowledged that the vote rendered Ohio’s 2019 ban unconstitutional but sought to retain other parts of the law—including requirements for abortion providers to check for a fetal heartbeat before performing the procedure, reporting obligations for providers, and provisions related to informed consent.

Yost’s office said he is considering an appeal, AP reports.

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