Ohio 'heartbeat' abortion bill could be test case for overturning Roe v Wade

[Judi Lynn]

Ohio 'heartbeat' abortion bill could be test case for overturning Roe v Wade

Just-passed bill stops short of banning abortion from the time a fetus’s heartbeat is detectable and may test the limits of constitutional protections of abortion

Amber Jamieson@ambiej
Friday 9 December 2016 07.30 EST

The Ohio state legislature threw down the gauntlet this week to the supreme court, passing a new anti-abortion “heartbeat” bill that would ban terminations from as early as six weeks, the most severe restrictions in the country.

Ohio politicians say they were motivated to push through the bill by Donald Trump’s win, believing they might find a more friendly US supreme court that would uphold the law.

If passed by Governor John Kasich, the bill could serve as a test case for the limits of constitutional protections of abortion, and even for overturning the landmark decision Roe v Wade, which enshrines a woman’s right to choose abortion until the fetus is “viable” (between 24 and 28 weeks gestation). But activists on both sides of the issue doubt that strategy is likely to succeed, and say it could do more to harm the legal movement than help it.

The bill passed by the Ohio state legislature on Tuesday stops just short of banning abortion from the time a fetus’s heartbeat is detectable, which is usually around six weeks. The new law states that if a doctor terminates a pregnancy without listening for a heartbeat or when a heartbeat is audible, then the physician would be committing a fifth-degree felony and face up to a year in jail, disciplinary action and civil lawsuits.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/09/ohio-heartbeat-abortion-bill-test-case-roe-v-wade

[LenaBaby61]

1. Ohio 'heartbeat' abortion bill could be test case for overturning Roe v Wade.

Good-bye Roe v Wade

[J_William_Ryan]

2. A truly idiotic measure.

“The new law states that if a doctor terminates a pregnancy without listening for a heartbeat or when a heartbeat is audible, then the physician would be committing a fifth-degree felony and face up to a year in jail, disciplinary action and civil lawsuits.”

Which would be un-Constitutional per Whole Women’s Health: a law enacted in bad faith, devoid of medical necessity, manifesting as an undue burden to a woman’s right to privacy.

[napi21]

3. If it isn't THE case that puts the test to RvW, there will be another one on it's heels.

They've been pushing this vendetta against this law for decades and NOW is their perfect opportunity to make it happen. I hope I'm right when I predict the SCOTUS will find RvW as settled law. I hope I'm right, and if I'm right, I can't WAIT to see the reaction of the idiots who BELIEVED they'd finally win. I will be grinning er to ear, and yes, I'll rub it in every chance I get!

[Warpy]

4. It has never held up before

and is unlikely to hold up now.

In any case, they could have picked any fetal development milestone like eye spots or arm buds. It's completely arbitrary and has nothing to do with fetal survival or keeping early termination a private decision between a woman and her doctor.

Remember, abortion will always be available. It just will no longer be safe.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Jeez. Let's just go back to the days when women got "back alley" abortions.

Sketchy "doctors" or "nurses" who had the physical means to induce an abortion. Maybe not completely sanitary or safe. Who really cared if the women wound up unable to ever have a baby in the future? It was all hidden, so who cared?

THAT is exactly the past we will be returning to.

I was an adult before Roe v Wade. While I myself never needed an abortion, I know women who did, especially on both sides of that divide.

And so, I always say to those who oppose abortion: If you don't believe in abortion, then don't have one.

And to those who try to claim that abortion is homicide (as was recently posted here on DU), DO NOT even think of projecting your morality on me. Or I might try to project my morality, such as all disabled fetuses must be aborted, no exceptions. You have no more right to inflict your standards on me as I do on you. So, fuck off. If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one. Meanwhile, do your everlasting best to create a world in which abortion is unthinkable, because no pregnancies ever happen that aren't wanted, and all handicapped babies come into a world where they will have the best of support. Oh, you don't believe in such things? Then once again, fuck off. If you aren't willing to give full and total support to all pregnancies at every stage, including every possible support of babies and their mothers, then what in the world are you thinking? Do you think that handicapped babies simply disappear? Do you think there is never an ongoing need for support, special education, lifelong services? Really? What fantasy land do you inhabit?

I am increasingly angry on this topic. Don't get me wrong. I never had a handicapped child who needed lifelong support. But when I read about such situations. I find myself completely unable to imagine what that must be like. I have two sons who have grown up to be self-supporting. What is the life of someone whose child needs constant, 24 hours a day support? And given how our system offers almost no support to those families, what do they go through?

Obviously those who want never to allow abortion, those who aren't willing to fund social services, those who think all babies are perfect, haven't a clue. I honestly wish a severely disabled child on them.

Of course, Sarah Palin's youngest child has Down Syndrome, and from everything I've read since his birth, she has done essentially NOTHING to help parents with such children.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. It's more than overturning Roe.

The antiabortion states have been engaging in a competition which one of them could first overturn Roe. Ohio may be the winner. That's the reason for all the "restrictions" that keep getting regularly passed. They WANT to be appealed, so their legislation goes to the USSC for their legacy.

[AgadorSparticus]

7. You knew this was going to happen. Still sickening when it does.