Reproductive rights advocates speculate dual legislation was ‘part of strategy’ for governor to pass separate ban, though both have been called unconstitutional

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Ohio governor John Kasich has vetoed the controversial “heartbeat bill”, which aimed to ban abortions from as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, while also signing into law a separate and restrictive 20-week abortion ban.

The heartbeat bill, passed seemingly out of nowhere by the Ohio senate last week, would have been the most restrictive abortion law in the country.

Ohio 'heartbeat' abortion bill could be test case for overturning Roe v Wade Read more

Despite Kasich’s veto on the more prohibitive piece of legislation, advocates have said both the heartbeat bill and the 20-week ban are unconstitutional as they directly violate Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 US supreme court decision which legalized abortion until fetal viability, between 24 and 28 weeks.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio had promised to pursue legal action if the Ohio heartbeat bill became law, but had previously said it was undecided about a legal challenge to the ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Kasich said his decision to veto the heartbeat bill was influenced by the high cost of legal fees, which his state would be burdened with.

“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,” the governor said.



“Therefore, this veto is in the public interest.”

A previous legal challenge of similar heartbeat bills passed in state houses in Arkansas and North Dakota in 2013, but the eighth US circuit court of appeals ruled them unconstitutional in 2015, and the laws were never enacted.

But the 20-week abortion ban, considered by abortion rights proponents to be a severe form of reproductive rights restriction and passed in some form in 18 states, was nonetheless approved by Kasich, himself a staunch opponent of abortion rights, on Tuesday.

“John Kasich is treating women’s health care like a game. He thinks that by vetoing one abortion ban, Ohioans will not notice that he has signed another,” said the Naral Pro-Choice Ohio executive director, Kellie Copeland, in a statement.

“The 20-week abortion ban callously disregards the unique circumstances that surround a woman’s pregnancy. Once a woman has made the decision to end a pregnancy, she needs access to safe and legal abortion care in her community,” said Copeland.

Low-income women, young women and women of color are most likely to be affected by late-term abortion bans, notes Copeland. More than 99% of abortions are performed before 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to Planned Parenthood.

Activists were left wondering whether the heartbeat bill wasn’t just a decoy deployed to allow easier passage of the 20-week ban.

Last week, Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Guardian that having the heartbeat bill and 20-week bill at the same time may have been “part of the strategy” by Ohio Republican representatives to more easily pass the 20-week ban.



The anti-abortion activist Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, had also opposed the heartbeat bill as being too extreme and likely to lose in a legal challenge, but he supported the 20-week ban.

“Given the current makeup of the United States supreme court, Governor Kasich got it right by embracing the strategic incremental approach to ending abortion,” said Gonidakis in a statement.

The Ohio house of representatives could overthrow Kasich’s veto with a vote by three-fifths of the house.