Judge blocks early enforcement of hurdles for clinics
A Hamilton County judge blocked the Ohio Department of Health from revoking credentials that allow Southwest Ohio’s two abortion clinics to operate.
Without an approved exception to state law, Mount Auburn’s Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Dayton’s Women’s Med cannot perform surgical abortions. The clinics are two of six that perform the procedure in Ohio and the only ones in Southwest Ohio.
Ohio law requires abortion clinics to partner with local, private hospitals in case of emergencies. If a hospital won’t agree, clinics can obtain an exception, called a variance, by partnering with several local doctors.
In December, Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature put more restrictions on who those local doctors could be. Doctors cannot have ties to medical schools affiliated with state colleges or universities.
That’s a problem for Women’s Med, whose doctors work at Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine. In a Jan. 28 letter, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff denied Women’s Med’s variance because it couldn’t list those doctors anymore.
On Jan. 23, Ohio Department of Health sent a letter to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, asking the clinic to verify that its doctors are not affiliated with public medical schools.
But Ohio’s new law doesn’t take effect until March 23. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and Planned Parenthood Federation of America sued to prevent Ohio officials from what they saw as prematurely closing abortion clinics in Ohio.
On Wednesday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Alison Hatheway blocked the state from rushing to enforce the law.
But the clinics remain at risk once the law does take effect. The next closest clinic that performs surgical abortions is in Columbus and has a two-week wait, according to the lawsuit.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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