Ohio Senate sends to Gov. Mike DeWine a ‘born alive’ abortion bill that could shutter
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday afternoon that could end all abortion access Southeast Ohio.
The Senate voted 24 to 7, along party lines, to concur on technical amendments made to Senate Bill 157 in the House. There was no debate on the bill before the debate.
The bill would require physicians to provide life-saving care to babies who survive failed abortions. But it also could close Women’s Med Center in the Dayton area and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in Cincinnati.
The two clinics operate without transfer agreements to local hospitals – one of over two dozen abortion restrictions the Republican-dominated legislature has added in the past decade – because they entered consulting agreements with local physicians, requiring the doctors to step in during times of emergency. With the consulting agreements, the Ohio Department of Health gave the clinics variances to the transfer agreement requirement.
But SB 157 would require the Department of Health to revoke the variances if the consulting physicians teach or work at a medical school affiliated with a state college or university, state hospital or other public institution.
Abortion rights activists say that very few “botched” abortions occur, especially resulting in fetuses being born alive since Ohio prohibits abortion at 20 weeks of gestation when a fetus can’t survive outside of the womb.
Obstetricians, however, warn that SB 157 could affect their practices with mothers whose planned pregnancies don’t go as intended. Instead of allowing a mother to old and say goodbye to her child, who would unlikely survive any medical interventions, the doctors would have to whisk the baby away to try them.
Physicians who violate SB 157 could face a first-degree felony criminal charge.
Gov. Mike DeWine hasn’t specifically indicated whether he’ll sign SB 157, although he considers himself one of the most anti-abortion governors in Ohio history.
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Ohio Senate passes ‘born alive’ bill with amendment that would close abortion clinics
Read More: Ohio Senate sends to Gov. Mike DeWine a ‘born alive’ abortion bill that could shutter