COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over whether a Cleveland abortion clinic has the legal right to proceed with its challenge to several abortion restrictions placed into a 2013 state budget bill.
Preterm of Cleveland needs to be granted standing to sue over the budget amendments, which it argues violate Ohio’s single-subject rule.
“As a critical abortion provider in Northeast Ohio, Preterm has an unquestionable interest in the abortion restrictions the General Assembly enacted as a part of the 2013 state budget bill,” said Jessie Hill, volunteer attorney for the ACLU of Ohio, which is presenting oral arguments before the court Tuesday.
“The [three] amendments that aim to restrict access to reproductive health services must be struck from the current law, as they were log-rolled onto an unrelated bill in violation of our constitution’s single-subject rule,” she said.
Disputed provisions include a prohibition on public hospitals providing emergency backup under required transfer agreements and a requirement that clinics check for a fetal heartbeat before conducting an abortion.
The 8th District Ohio Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County ruled last year that Preterm had been injured by the amendments and so had standing, reversing a trial court.
Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine has appealed to the state’s high court.