Abortion

Ohio Session Ends With No Vote On Heartbeat Ban

The senate has now adjourned without any closure on the proposal to ban abortion from the moment a heartbeat can be detected.

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The Ohio legislature has adjourned, but the controversial “heartbeat ban” that would make abortion illegal before many women even knew they were pregnant did not get put up for a vote in the senate.

Via The Urbana Daily Citizen:

[Senate President Tom] Niehaus said he awaits consensus between two anti-abortion groups that are at odds, Faith2Action, which brought the bill to lawmakers, and Ohio Right to Life, which has declined to endorse it out of concern it can’t withstand a legal challenge. “I’ve been encouraging probably for almost a year now that the two sides sit down and talk,” Niehaus said. “I’m not sure that that’s happened yet. I’m confident that if they do that, they are likely to find some common ground that would then allow us to look at it in the fall.”

Neihaus had been pushed by Faith2Action to bring the bill to a vote despite a majority of anti-choice activists and lawyers worrying that the passage could cause a court case that might actually reaffirm Roe V. Wade and hurt the movement’s effort to end abortion.

Neihaus essentially told the group in a strongly worded letter in May that the vote wasn’t going to happen.