COLUMBUS (AP) — The federal government is taking Ohio’s side in a lawsuit over the state law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome.
The Justice Department said in a filing Tuesday that “nothing in Ohio’s law creates a substantial obstacle to women obtaining an abortion.”
Taking up an argument used by supporters, the government says the law protects against discrimination based on disability.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is rehearing the case after a three-judge panel agreed with a lower court that the 2017 law was probably unconstitutional.
The law is currently blocked.