Ohio judge blocks 'heartbeat' abortion ban, criticizes Republican attorney general

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - An Ohio judge permanently struck down the state's ban on abortion after about six weeks on Thursday and criticized its Republican attorney general for attempting to circumvent the will of Ohioans who voted to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution.

Judge Christian Jenkins of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in Cincinnati said the Republican-backed 2019 state law would interfere with women's ability to receive abortions and discourage doctors from performing them, in violation of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year.

The office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, acknowledged that the ban itself could not stand in light of the ballot initiative, but had argued that 14 other provisions of the state law should be upheld.

Those included requirements to have doctors check for fetal heartbeats before performing abortions, inform patients seeking abortions when their fetuses are viable, and have patients wait 24 hours after seeing a doctor before undergoing an abortion.

Jenkins said those provisions were unconstitutional because the ballot measure's broad wording prohibits any burden on the ability to exercise the right to have an abortion.

He noted that when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overruled its landmark Roe v. Wade precedent that had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide, it said it was returning the issue of abortion to individual states and that "women are not without electoral or political power."

"Ohio's Attorney General evidently didn't get the memo," wrote Jenkins, a Democrat who was elected to his post in 2021. "Unlike the Ohio Attorney General, this court will uphold the Ohio Constitution's protection of abortion rights."

Bethany McCorkle, a spokeswoman for Yost, said the attorney general has 30 days to review the "very long, complicated decision" and decide whether to appeal.

The lead plaintiff in the case, Planned Parenthood affiliate Preterm-Cleveland, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said the decision highlighted the importance of securing abortion rights through a ballot initiative.

"Ohioans are reassured that they have a critical safeguard through our courts against anti-abortion lawmakers," Blauvelt said in a statement.

The 2019 law banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks, which is before many women know they are pregnant. It included exceptions for preventing death or serious injury to the mother, but not for rape or incest.

The Ohio Supreme Court allowed the law to take effect in July 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. Ohio's law drew national attention later that month when a 10-year-old rape victim was forced to travel to Indiana to get an abortion.

After Preterm-Cleveland and other plaintiffs sued to strike down the law, Jenkins in September 2022 blocked it pending the outcome of the case.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)