NORTHEAST OHIO — In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last week, officials have expressed concerns the ruling will spark a domino effect that could see other rights overturned.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, but Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion fueled questions over what other rights could be in jeopardy.
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote, referring to rulings that legalized contraception for married couples and same-sex marriage.
A few hours after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced via Twitter the so-called “Heartbeat Bill” was now Ohio law. The bill prohibits abortions once a fetus’s heartbeat is detected, usually at about six weeks, and makes it a felony for doctors to perform those abortions.
The Heartbeat Bill is now the law. pic.twitter.com/ipO9fMQ4H0
— Attorney General Dave Yost (@DaveYostOH) June 24, 2022
Ohio anti-abortion groups indicate they support additional restrictions.
Cleveland Right to Life issued a statement saying the group applauded the Supreme Court decision and vowed to continue to work to protect human life.
“To that end, we urge Ohio lawmakers to enact the most stringent laws possible to protect human life in the womb and provide hope and assistance for their mothers,” the group stated.
Akron City Councilwoman Nancy Holland, a civil rights attorney focused on women rights, said she believes among ways to restrict women’s reproductive rights in Ohio is a total ban on abortion.
In the end more than half the states in the country will likely make abortion completely unavailable, she said.
“I think the Supreme Court did a grave, grave disservice to all persons with a uterus, on about 15 different levels of constitutional magnitude,” Holland said.
Ohio Right to Life, one of Ohio’s oldest anti-abortion groups, issued a statement indicating it would strongly support a total ban on abortion.
“Ohio now can save countless innocent lives. Ohio Right to Life encourages our pro-life legislative majorities and Governor DeWine to be ambitious and end abortion once and for all in our great state,” said Right to life President Michael Gonidakis. “We are dedicated and prepared to pass our Human Life Protection Act and send it to Governor DeWine’s desk as soon as possible.”
Following the announcement Friday, Ohio Rep. Emelia Sykes took to Twitter to warn followers House Bill 598 could be coming.
“Right now, in Ohio, state lawmakers are pushing forward a bill that would ban abortion, even in instances of rape and incest, criminalizing women seeking an abortion, as well as doctors who provide them,” she wrote, calling the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade “devastating.”
Ohio Rep. Emelia Sykes took to Twitter to warn followers House Bill 598 could be coming.
Sykes was referring to the Human Life Protection Act, or HB 598. Introduced in March by Hudson Republican Kristina Roegner, the measure would make any abortion a criminal act. The bill specifies abortion by any means, including a “substance” or an “instrument.”
“Substance” would include abortion pills, many of which are currently available through mail order and ruled safe by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. The abortion pill mifepristone is prescribed by a physician and used in conjunction with the drug misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy less than 70 days in gestation.
A legal battle to criminalize the use of those medications could be trickier for anti-abortion organizations, Holland said, but not impossible.
“These things are all going to make their way through the courts,” she said, and Justice Thomas made it clear all contraception is in danger.
“So what I fear is what we all should fear,” she said. “First and foremost, that lives will be lost. You know, women have heartbeats, too.”
During a press conference triggered by the Supreme Court decision, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters said over the next few weeks, people will closely analyze the 200-page decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
But a woman’s legal right to have access to birth control will be a big issue for voters in November, she said.
“Taking health care choices away from people, whether that’s access to medical procedures or to birth control, is not okay with folks,” Walters said.
