By Susan Tebben
For the second time in a week, a Hamilton County judge ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood and against a recently passed state law on abortion services.
Hamilton County Judge Alison Hatheway gave Planned Parenthood a two-week restraining order, preventing a law banning telemedicine abortion services from taking effect as planned on April 12.
The clinics and the ACLU sued to challenge Senate Bill 260, which prohibits the use of telemedicine in medication abortions, a procedure in which a two-pill regimen is used rather than a surgical procedure. The law also creates a felony offense for physicians who conduct abortion services using telemedicine.
Planned Parenthood said the use of telemedicine is a promotion of health care access, not a lessening of the quality of care provided by clinics.
“Bans on the use of telemedicine abortion have nothing to do with safeguarding patients’ health — they only make it harder for patients to access care that’s safe and effective,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement on the decision.
Emily Pelphrey, an attorney representing the Ohio Department of Health, asked that the court deny the restraining order to give the state more time to gather evidence and reply to the lawsuit.
Judge Hatheway said a hearing on a more long-term decision for the case would be scheduled for April 19, giving both sides time to present their full cases.
Anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life criticized the telemedicine decision, and president Mike Gonidakis said “allowing Planned Parenthood to ignore Ohio’s critical health and safety standards puts women and babies at risk.”
Also this week, Hatheway granted a 30-day pause on a law that would regulate the disposal of fetal tissue and medical waste from surgical abortions.
The preliminary injunction granted earlier this week by Hatheway ruled Senate Bill 27 could not take effect for at least 30 days. This gives the Ohio Department of Health time to create the rules, regulations and forms needed for health clinics to follow the law.
Hatheway said because the rules and regulations were not yet in place, clinics could still be unknowingly at risk of violating the law, and without the rules in place, abortion providers may be afraid of civil action or loss of licensure. This, she ruled, could deny patients’ access to their right to an abortion, protected under the state and U.S. Constitution.
Abortion is legal in Ohio up to 22 weeks gestation, though the state legislature is once again trying to change that with anticipation of a challenge to the federal Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal across the country.
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Also from Ohio Capital Journal:
Commentary: Son of murder victim urges legislature to end death penalty quickly
Thomas Knuff, the man who murdered my father, was sentenced to death in 2019. Knuff brutally murdered my father and I live with the pain and grief of that violent loss every single day. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley sought the death penalty for Thomas Knuff and got the conviction. But when Knuff was sentenced to death, I too was sentenced to decades of pain, excruciating uncertainty, and reliving the worst day of my life over and over again.
The Capital Crimes Report recently released by Attorney General Dave Yost said that of the people who have been executed in Ohio since 1981, the average amount of time they spent on death row is 17 years. Yost affirmed that these delays were unacceptable and offered two options: Speed up the death penalty process or get rid of it — quickly.
Unfortunately, speeding up the process isn’t an option in Ohio. Ohio has sentenced 11 innocent people to die. Since the reinstatement of Ohio’s death penalty, the state has executed 56 people. That means for every five executions, one person has been exonerated. If we speed up the process, we seriously risk executing an innocent person. In fact, Cuyahoga County is second in the country for most wrongful death sentences. READ MORE
Quest for D.C. statehood finds new friends and foes
WASHINGTON — Congress had yet to even schedule a hearing on a measure granting statehood to the District of Columbia when a panel of state lawmakers in Arizona voted in February to take a stand against D.C’s plea to become the 51st state.
From their committee room some 2,300 miles from the nation’s capital, members of Arizona’s House Government & Elections Committee weighed in on the brewing statehood debate with a resolution declaring formal opposition.
That Arizona measure — which has cleared one GOP-controlled chamber so far — is an example of how far-reaching the national debate over D.C.’s latest push for statehood has become, as the U.S. House nears votes on the question. Democrats are framing it as a voting rights issue, in a year when states are battling over access to the ballot box.
At least 13 states have introduced resolutions this year signaling a position on whether D.C. should become the 51st state. Eleven have resolutions filed in support, two in opposition, and one state has measures both supporting and opposing statehood, according to a tally by Students for D.C. Statehood. READ MORE
