Ohio judge blocks legislation preventing abortions in Down syndrome cases

CNN (Mar. 14, 2018): Ohio judge blocks legislation preventing abortions in Down syndrome cases, by Lauren del Valle:

An Ohio federal district court judge blocked legislation that would have banned abortion in cases where a fetus is diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Republican Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation into law in December of last year, and it was scheduled to go into effect March 23. The legislation is now blocked until a final ruling is made in the lawsuit.

 

In granting the preliminary injunction against the law, Southern District of Ohio Judge Timothy Black said that federal abortion law is "crystal clear" that "a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability."

 

The law prohibits abortions after prenatal tests reveal Down syndrome in a fetus, or if there's "any other reason to believe" the fetus has the genetic condition. A person performing an abortion in such a case could face a fourth-degree felony charge, and physicians could lose their licenses. The ACLU filed a complaint in mid-February calling the legislation unconstitutional.

 

"This law does absolutely nothing to support people with disabilities -- it's just another ploy to make it nearly impossible for Ohio women to get the care they need. We are committed to making sure this unconstitutional law is never enforced, and today's ruling brings us one step closer," Legal Director for the ACLU of Ohio Freda Levenson said in a statement.

 

Similar laws have passed in North Dakota and Indiana, though a federal judge blocked the Indiana law. The North Dakota law went into effect in 2013.