A bill to ban abortions in Ohio once a fetal heartbeat is detected passed a House committee yesterday, after the panel was altered to help ensure passage. The bill passed 10-6 on a party-line vote with Democrats, including Rep. Mike Curtin of Marble Cliff, voting against it.

A bill to ban abortions in Ohio once a fetal heartbeat is detected passed a House committee yesterday after Republican leaders altered the panel to ensure passage.

House Bill 248, the so-called heartbeat bill, would outlaw abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Supporters want to use the bill to initiate an immediate court challenge that, they hope, would lead to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

But others worry that the bill would actually harm the anti-abortion movement.

�I share the same concerns as Ohio Right to Life about what it could mean, but it�s a long way from getting to my desk,� Kasich said from the Republican Governors Association conference in Boca Raton, Fla.

He told Ohio reporters that he has expressed concern to GOP legislative leaders �about what it could mean in terms of the (anti-abortion) things that have already been passed.� Kasich said he fears that a court challenge to the heartbeat bill could jeopardize other laws.

The legislation includes an exception to prevent the death of or serious harm to the pregnant woman, but it would not permit abortion in cases of rape or incest.

A doctor who performs an abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat could face a fifth-degree felony charge.

The bill is virtually the same as one the House passed in 2011; the Senate buried that bill the following year.

Further action on the new bill this year appears unlikely. A number of Republicans share the concerns raised by Ohio Right to Life, and a number also are unhappy with the hardball tactics used by bill supporters. Senate President Keith Faber has said he has grave concerns because similar laws have been struck down in other states.

Yesterday, House Bill 248 was passed by the House Health and Aging Committee in a party-line vote, 11-6. Democrats, including Rep. Mike Curtin of Marble Cliff, opposed it.

Before the morning hearing, some Republicans expected to vote no were replaced with members who support the legislation.

The committee vice chairwoman, Rep. Anne Gonzales, R-Westerville, did not attend the hearing but said later she opposes the bill.

Opponents complained that the bill had only one hearing, and that testimony was limited to three hours, preventing some witnesses from addressing the committee.

Testimony became heated at times, including a back-and-forth between committee Chairman Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, the lead sponsor of the bill, and Rep. John Patrick Carney, D-Columbus, who was grilling a supporter of the bill, Dr. Dennis Doody, a Columbus pediatrician.

�The detection of a heartbeat is a standard, universally accepted proof of life,� Doody said. �A person, born or yet unborn, is always considered alive when the heartbeat is detected.�

Carney, a health-care attorney, said all medical literature he has read disputes the notion that a heartbeat is the best way of determining whether a fetus will survive.

�Time and again, the people who do the work of delivering babies and taking care of women who are pregnant are saying this is bad,� Carney said after the hearing. �This committee certainly makes it seem like medicine and science is our enemy.�

Asked if she had moral concerns about performing an abortion, Dr. Anita Somani, a Columbus obstetrician and gynecologist, told the committee her job is to provide the best health-care options for women, not consider a question of morality.

Forcing a woman to carry to term a fetus that, early on, is known to be unlikely to survive may cause emotional stress and physical risk to the woman, Somani said.

The heartbeat bill has caused an unprecedented split in Ohio�s anti-abortion community over the legal strategy to enact legislation almost certain to be declared unconstitutional.

Legal scholars have said the law would violate the Supreme Court�s ruling in Roe v. Wade that abortions are permitted until the fetus is viable outside the womb, generally 24 weeks into pregnancy. In addition, similar heartbeat laws in Arkansas and North Dakota have been found unconstitutional by the courts.

�I did not put my hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible,� said Rep. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown. He and others warned that the expected litigation would cost taxpayers millions.

Gary Daniels of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio told the committee that the bill is legally �on thin ice� and that his group would immediately file a lawsuit challenging it if it becomes law.

Dispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland contributed to this story.

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