Ohio’s abortion ban battle gets new filings despite constitutional protection

CINCINNATI — A legal battle before the Ohio Supreme Court over a six-week abortion ban continued Thursday as the American Civil Liberties Union and Republican attorney general filed dueling briefs.

The filings came on the same day a constitutional amendment protecting women’s reproductive rights took effect, restoring the state’s abortion protections to pre-Roe V Wade levels.

The ACLU argued after Issue 1’s passage in November by Ohio voters, an abortion ban based on a fetal heartbeat was unconstitutional and AG David Yost’s appeal of the court’s injunction blocking the ban should be thrown out.

“In appellant Yost’s own words, S.B. 23, which bans abortion around six weeks ‘[can]not exist’ now that the constitution has been amended,” the filing read.

Yost, in his office’s filing, argued the court battle should continue as the current appeal doesn’t ask the court to rule on abortion bans based on their own merit.

Instead, Yost argued the court was considering procedural issues unrelated to abortion.

“This appeal is not the time or place to resolve the Heartbeat Act’s now-confilct with the constitution,” Yost’s filing read.

Abortion rights advocates like Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland were disappointed by Yost’s continued fight against the ACLU.

“He knows that these things are unconstitutional,” Copeland said.

Copeland said her organization would continue to push back on conservative efforts in the state to limit or eliminate abortion in Ohio even after protections were enshrined in the constitution.

She said she expected Republican officials would work to undermine abortion access in the state.

“I’m not going to mince words,” Copeland said. “This was our first glimpse into whether Yost is going to follow the will of the people and honor this constitutional amendment, or if he’s going to continue to make things difficult.”

In a press conference Thursday about a lawsuit against the NCAA, Yost was asked about whether 24-hour wait times for abortions would continue after Issue 1’s enactment. He responded that each abortion-related law would need to be decided upon by the courts.

“Absent a court order … any statute would be presumed to be valid until it’s challenged,” Yost said.

As the battles continue to play out in court, anti-abortion groups like Cincinnati Right to Life pledged to continue the fight despite the new constitutional hurdle.

In a statement, executive Laura Strietmann compared abortion to murder.

“With every abortion, a unique and unrepeatable human person is destroyed and a mother becomes the killer of her own child,” Strietmann wrote. “Cincinnati Right to Life has worked for 50 years pronouncing this truth and we will continue to educate the public on the scourge of abortion and the harm it does to mothers.”

In their brief, the ACLU laid out their plan to continue its fight against the heartbeat bill.

In it, the group said they would amend their original lawsuit to request the court consider the newly adopted constitutional protections for abortion and quickly declare the ban unconstitutional.