Ohio GOP lawmakers want to ban all abortions, charging doctors with murder

Jessie Balmert | Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - One-third of Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives have signed onto a bill to ban all abortions in the state – and charging doctors who perform them with murder.

The proposed legislation, which has not yet been introduced, would almost certainly trigger a lawsuit. A federal judge temporarily blocked similar legislation in Alabama last month.

Butler County Rep. Candice Keller, who is running for Ohio Senate in a competitive primary, will co-sponsor the abortion ban. Keller is the executive director of a Christian pregnancy resource center and was a supporter of Ohio's "heartbeat bill," which bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The proposed legislation would ban medical, surgical and medication abortions in Ohio and penalize doctors who perform them with murder charges, according to a news release from Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, a group of local "pro-life" organizations. Under the changes, doctors may perform life-saving procedures on the pregnant woman if the treatment unintentionally results in the death of the fetus.

The bill would also recognize an unborn human as a person.

"The time for regulating evil and compromise is over," Keller said in a statement. "The time has come to abolish abortion in its entirety and recognize that each individual has the inviolable and inalienable right to life."

Keller and fellow Republicans introduced a bill to ban all abortions in 2018, but it died in committee. Then-Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, had already vetoed the heartbeat bill once at that point and would go onto veto it again.

GOP Gov. Mike DeWine signed the six-week abortion ban earlier this year, saying that the legislation was "consistent with that respect for life and the imperative to protect those who cannot protect themselves." DeWine, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the total abortion ban.

Proponents of abortion access say the new proposal could lead to women being charged with murder for abortion as well. They also worry that the bill could outlaw some birth control.

"Every abortion ban and medically dubious regulation shares the same goal as this bill – to outlaw abortion and strip Ohioans of their reproductive freedoms," NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said. "Ohioans won’t surrender their bodily autonomy to these extremists.”

Even with the support of 21 Republicans, it's not clear that a total abortion ban would pass the Ohio House of Representatives. Speaker Larry Householder told The Enquirer that he had not yet looked at the bill.

The bill won't find support among Democrats in the Ohio House.

“This latest abortion ban from extreme, right-wing lawmakers is the most brazen and absurd attempt yet to deny Ohio women their fundamental freedoms, to interfere with the patient-doctor relationship and disproportionately target communities of color across Ohio," House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes said.

Ohio Right to Life, the state's powerful anti-abortion lobbying organization, is not getting involved with the bill. The group's message: be patient. Ohio has already passed several abortion restrictions – notably the heartbeat bill – to challenge the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade.

"We sympathize with those who feel frustrated by how long it’s taken even to get to this point," Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said. "We believe the heartbeat bill before the courts now is the best vehicle to overturn Roe, and we will be watching carefully as it progresses in the courts."