Morgan MooneEditor’s Note: In the next few articles, we will provide background on the anti-choice legislation that are being passed so that everyone has some basic information on these laws, and we will report from reproductive justice activists on the impact of these bills, and explore with them the steps forward.
The current wave of anti-choice legislation, supported by Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and his appointment of over 95 federal judges, has deep and lingering consequences that go beyond attempts to restrict bodies. The introduced and accepted legislation has serious consequences for access to medicine, voting rights, bodily autonomy and relief from trauma.
Ohio: SB 23: Human Rights Protection Act
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Kristina Roegner, District 27
Impact: SB 23 passed April 10, 2019 and is slated to go into effect July 11, 2019. A doctor who knowingly induces or performs an abortion before determining if there is a fetal heartbeat will be charged with fifth degree felony. The legislation also allows the State Medical Board to take additional disciplinary actions against doctors found in violation and impose penalties of up to $20,000.
The bill also allows for an individual to bring a civil claim for the wrongful death of a fetus if certain actions are not taken (and documented) by the doctor prior to the abortion, including noting the existence or lack thereof of a heartbeat.
The bill denies exceptions for rape or incest.
The bill effectively outlaws all abortion, as most people do not know they are pregnant until after a fetal heartbeat is detectable. SB23 promotes unsafe abortions, as outlawing abortions does not decrease the rate of abortion but increases self-induced and medically unsupervised abortions, ultimately increasing the amount of abortion-related complications and deaths.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit May 15 requesting that the effect date be delayed and the law deemed unconstitutional.
House Bill 182: Prohibit Offering Insurance for Abortion Services
Primary Sponsor: Rep. John Becker, District 65, who says he was inspired by the “Heartbeat Bill“ (SB 23) to introduce HB 182.
HB 182 is perhaps one of the more nefarious attempts by the Ohio legislature to restrict and control Ohio women’s bodies and reproductive decisions. HB 182 would ban insurance coverage for all or part of most abortions and does not include exceptions for rape or incest.
Rep. Becker, despite admitting that reproductive health and family planning options are “not my area of expertise,” attempts to legislate away contraceptive options: The bill would ban ‘drugs or devices used to prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum. Jamie Miracle, deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio warns that this threatens coverage of birth control pills, IUDs and other popular contraceptive options such as Plan B.
Ohio Rep. Becker also attempts to do the impossible in his legislation, saying that treatment options for ectopic pregnancies, known to be nonviable pregnancies and dangerous to the pregnant person, “would be removing that embryo from the fallopian tube and reinserting it in the uterus.” There is no medical procedure that allows for the reimplantation of an ectopic pregnancy. After receiving criticism, Rep. Becker cited a 100 year old medical journal and stated that he is “forward thinking” to a time when an experimental transferal of an ectopic pregnancy is possible.
Impact: Bills such as HB182 threaten women’s lives by not only limiting options for women to control, space and plan their families, it threatens access to medical care. HB 182 raises questions of whether standard and medically possible ectopic pregnancy treatments (i.e. termination of the pregnancy and removal) will be considered an abortion, resulting in the potential denial of insurance coverage and create liability for the performing doctor under SB 23. This question, and hundreds other relating to prescriptions used to control PCOS, endometriosis and other medical conditions, confusion over access to reproductive healthcare and insurance coverage, will decrease the amount of people willing to engage in the medical care system.
Dr. Daniel Grossman, professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and University of California, San Francisco, and director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health recently authored a response to the bill, stating: “Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in the first trimester, and as our nation faces a crisis of maternal mortality – particularly among African-American women – it is unconscionable to place obstacles in the way of treating ectopic pregnancy.”
Bethany Van Kampen, senior policy analyst for National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health stated:
“We have been seeing increasingly more attacks to reproductive rights and what worries us the most about these bans is that communities with fewer resources, especially immigrant communities and communities of color, pay the highest price…Those with resources will always find a way to get abortion access.”
The fact that this bill includes an exception for a procedure that is not scientifically available, a reinsertion of an ectopic pregnancy into the uterus, highlights that these laws are not about health and safety. It’s about controlling a pregnant person’s body, science be damned. Becker himself stated: “I’m not smart enough to know what causes abortions and what doesn’t…The bill is just written if it causes an abortion, and people smarter than me can figure that out.”
Other Legislation:
SB 27, currently passed by the Ohio Senate, would require burial of fetal remains.
Rep. Becker has noted that he is also planning on introducing a trigger bill if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
