John Kasich vetoes Ohio's heartbeat bill

John Kasich, the self-anointed moralist scold of the Republican Party, has vetoed the pro-life heartbeat bill (H.B. 258) as one of his last acts as Ohio's governor. This bill had wide support in the state's legislature. The vote to override Kasich was 61-28 in the Ohio House, but the vote in the Senate was 19-13 which was one short to override. The heartbeat bill was pretty straightforward. It stipulated that

... no person shall knowingly and purposefully perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of the unborn human individual the pregnant woman is carrying and whose fetal heartbeat has been detected. Even the wording on this bill must have grated on the ears of the abortion industry, saying as it did that the pregnant woman is carrying an "unborn human individual." Kasich's veto is not the end of the story. The prospects are favorable for a heartbeat bill passage in 2019. The incoming legislature is GOP-dominated, and the governor-elect, Mike DeWine, has taken strong pro-life positions in the past and has promised on the campaign trail to sign a heartbeat bill if elected. If John (Son-of-a-Postman) Kasich is positioning himself as the "compassionate conservative" for 2020 in the Republican primaries, he could well have support of Planned Parenthood. How he will explain himself to the Republican base is another matter.