Ohio lawmakers proposed legislation permitting the use of nitrogen gas for execution, following in the footsteps of Alabama, which used the first-of-its-kind method on a death row inmate Thursday.

During a press conference Tuesday, state Reps. Phil Plummer and Brian Stewart introduced the bill, which would allow inmates to have the choice between nitrogen hypoxia or lethal injection. However, if the necessary drugs for the lethal injection method are not available, nitrogen gas would be used alternatively, ABC News reported. The controversial execution procedure has gained traction recently in pro-death penalty states, such as Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, where it has been approved.

“Nitrogen hypoxia is an alternative method for carrying out capital punishment that has been made available in other states,” Stewart said at the press conference. “The legislation introduced by Rep. Plummer and I will authorize the state of Ohio to utilize nitrogen hypoxia, in addition to lethal injection, and directed it shall be used in instances where lethal injection is not an available means of carrying out a capital sentence.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has been a proponent of the execution method. After Alabama used nitrogen hypoxia on Eugene Smith, who received the death penalty for fatally stabbing a woman in 1988, Yost said it could be a viable option if drugs used for lethal injection cannot be obtained.

Smith’s execution reportedly took 22 minutes, the Associated Press reported, and “for at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney.”

“Perhaps nitrogen—widely available and easy to manufacture—can break the impasse of unavailability of drugs for lethal injection,” Yost wrote on X. “Death row inmates are in greater danger of dying of old age than their sentence.”

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) told the AP in 2020 that lethal injection was becoming less practical and declared it no longer an option after a judge ruled that it could cause “severe pain and needless suffering.” Yost said Tuesday that the state should be able to get a contract to receive the gas.

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“I am aware of the moral weight of this debate, but this is law of the land,” Yost said at the press conference. “If we wish to break the promises that we made to the families of all these victims over all these years, if we wish to not keep faith with the jurors that we asked to take this heavy weight on to make a judgment, then we owe it to our society and to all those that are involved to own our decision to change our minds.”

As of 2023, Ohio had 129 inmates on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The state has not executed anyone since Robert Van Hook, who was executed by lethal injection in 2018.