COLUMBUS – The Ohio House has approved a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.
The House voted 64-29 Thursday night to pass the bill, which will be added to legislation already on its way to Republican Gov. John Kasich that would prohibit abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Kasich opposes abortion rights but hasn’t said whether he plans to sign either measure, which has been called unconstitutional by critics who also blasted Republicans for rushing the measure through the House as part of a lame duck agenda.
“Instead of focusing on the staggering opioid epidemic or our struggling economy, the majority in the Statehouse has decided to pass yet another unconstitutional restriction on a legal healthcare procedure,” State Rep. Greta Johnson (D-Akron).
Ohio’s proposed 20-week ban would allow for abortion in some cases to protect a woman’s life and health. The Republican-controlled House voted earlier to reject a Democratic proposal to add an exception for rape and incest to the bill
Similar 20-week bans are on the books in 17 states but Johnson says those in Arizona, Georgia, and Idaho have already been blocked by federal courts for violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.