COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two Ohio Republican Senators who co-sponsored Senate Bill 123, also knows as the Human Life Protection Act, gave proponent testimony Wednesday in hopes the bill will pass.
Under the legislation, it would trigger an abortion ban in Ohio if the United States Supreme Court would overturn Roe v Wade.
At that point, each individual state could decide whether to make abortion illegal.
Under the proposed bill, there are no exceptions for an abortion in the case of rape or incest.
"While there are problems that there are no exceptions, the real problem is that the bill is being pushed at all,” said Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.
Ohio Senators Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) and State Senator Sandra O’Brien (R-Ashtabula) co-sponsored the bill.
“Abortion is anti-life, anti-human, anti-woman and many, many people are suffering because of it,” Senator O’Brien said.
During testimony Wednesday, supporters said 12 other states already have passed Human Life Protection Act legislation. Six states already have abortion bans.
The legislation is being introduced now because the Supreme Court will hear arguments in December in a case from Mississippi that tests whether all state laws that ban abortions are unconstitutional.
In January, Gov. Mike DeWine January signed S.B. 260 that prohibits using telemedicine for medication-induced abortions. Instead, it requiring patients to take an initial dose of any drug in the presence of a physician.
The bill was slated to go into effect in April, but a judge temporarily blocked the ban on April 7.
On June 30, Gov. DeWine signed the state's budget, which included a provision that allows providers to refuse to perform health care services on the basis of religious beliefs, among other abortion restrictions.
You can read the analysis of the S.B. 123 bill here.