COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio abortion opponents will lobby state lawmakers to ban a common second trimester abortion procedure as part of its mission to chip away at abortion rights until the practice is illegal nationwide.
Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, wants to eliminate dilation and evacuation, an abortion method typically used between 13 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. The proposed “Dismemberment Abortion Ban” is one of six pieces of abortion legislation the group plans to work on with lawmakers in the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
During the procedure, commonly called a D&E, the woman’s cervix is dilated and the fetus and other tissue are removed with surgical instruments and suction.
Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis called it a “brutal practice” that needs to be done away with.
“When thousands of human children are being torn limb from limb every year, it is incumbent on the State of Ohio to stand up and put a stop to this inhumane practice,” Gonidakis said in a press release.
Nationally, 95 percent of second trimester abortions are performed using D&E. About 3,400 of the nearly 21,000 abortions performed in Ohio in 2015 occurred after 12 weeks.
The procedure is also performed after a woman miscarries, but those procedures would be exempt from the law. Sen. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, plans to introduce the bill soon.
The bill would essentially ban abortion after 13 weeks, said Kellie Copeland, executive director of abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. Copeland said the American Medical Association recognizes the procedure one of the safest abortion methods available.
“They’re trying to take a leap from outlawing an abortion first at 24 weeks, then 20 weeks which they just passed and now they’re going for 13 weeks,” Copeland said, referring to a new law banning abortions 20 weeks post-conception, or about 22 weeks gestation.
The 22-week law, also backed by Ohio Right to Life, goes into effect in March.
Copeland said the D&E ban does nothing to improve women’s health and is another move intended to challenge the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing abortions until the point of viability, typically 24 weeks from a woman’s last period. Abortion opponents have said they feel emboldened by the election of President Donald Trump.
“What they’re clearly trying to do is provide a Trump-stacked court with a menu of options for how to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Copeland said.
Ohio would be the eighth state to enact such a ban. Courts in three states have blocked the bans.
Other proposed legislation backed by the group would:
- Require burial or cremation of fetal remains following an abortion.
- Prohibit using drugs off-label to induce abortion.
- Ban abortions after the fetus has been diagnosed with Down syndrome.
- Provide funding for crisis pregnancy centers which don’t advocate abortion.
- Ban the exchange of money or other compensation for fetal tissue or organs.
Similar versions of those bills were introduced during the last two-year legislative session but did not pass both chambers.
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