CINCINNATI (Statehouse News Bureau) — A Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge was scheduled to issue a decision today on whether the state’s six-week abortion ban can move forward, but that has been postponed until Aug. 29.
A lawsuit challenging the six-week ban was filed in that court in September 2022, three months after the law went into effect following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of federal abortion protections in Roe v. Wade.
Doctors testified in court that they were having terrible problems because of the six-week ban, also known as the “heartbeat law.” Shortly thereafter, the court issued an injunction suspending the six-week ban. And the law, which made abortion illegal from the time a fetal heartbeat could be detected, has not been enforced since.
Last November, voters approved a reproductive rights amendment that the ACLU of Ohio and others say would make the six-week ban unconstitutional. But lawyers for Republican Attorney General Dave Yost argued that parts of the law should remain in place. Ohio lawmakers have not repealed abortion restrictions in state law and say parts of them do not violate the new amendment. Ohio Republican lawmakers, who dominate the General Assembly, have said courts should decide the fate of existing state abortion laws.
This decision is likely to make November’s election even more important in the eyes of many voters. Three seats on the Ohio Supreme Court are up for election. The court is made up of four Republicans and three Democrats, so the fall vote could potentially shift the balance of the court.
This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
