Ohio abortion providers move to make heartbeat law illegal after amendment takes effect

Ohio abortion providers are asking a judge to strike down the state’s “heartbeat” law, which blocks abortion at around six weeks of gestation, in light of the new abortion-expanding constitutional amendment that voters approved last month.

The amendment went into effect on Dec. 7 and guarantees access to abortion for any reason as long as a physician signs off on it.

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Chief advocates of the abortion amendment, which include the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Ohio, filed an amended complaint to their already active challenge to the heartbeat law, asking a judge to consider the suit in light of the new amendment. Ohio’s six-week law and similar proposals in other states are often described as heartbeat bills because they ban abortion after the point at which a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat.

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The lawsuit was brought on behalf of several abortion clinics in the state.

“Today’s filing marks a pivotal moment in our long challenge to the unlawful and extreme six-week abortion ban,” a statement from the plaintiffs said. “The Ohio Constitution now plainly and precisely answers the question before the court — whether the six-week ban is unconstitutional — in the affirmative.”

When the amendment took effect, Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, whose office has been defending the six-week law, filed a brief saying the state “acknowledges” that the amendment “overrides the core of the act, but says the court should not address the merits of it.”

The brief also said that the Buckeye State’s top court should address procedural issues and then allow a trial court to address the merits.

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However, Yost’s statement also noted that “the state is prepared to acknowledge the will of the people on the issue.”

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH), who came out against the amendment, signed the heartbeat measure into law in April 2019, but courts have blocked it as litigation takes place.