The heartbeat bill, restricting abortion to six weeks, passed the house last week, but may not be as successful at the state Senate.
A bill that would restrict access to abortion is one step closer to being passed by Ohio legislators, though critics say it’s unlikely to pass through the state Senate.
“We’re very happy, obviously, that babies with heartbeats are one step closer to being protected, and we’re looking (to) the senate to rise up and follow the lead of the house,” said Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action, the lobbyist group that sponsored the bill.
The bill would prevent about 20,000 abortions every year, Porter said in a previous Post report.
The bill, which passed the House last Wednesday by a vote of 55 to 40, would limit the amount of time during which a woman can legally receive an abortion from 24 weeks to six weeks, when a heartbeat can first be detected in a fetus.
It was sponsored in the House by Rep. Christina Hagan, R-Alliance, and Rep. Ron Hood, R-Asheville.
“It’s a very extreme bill,” said Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany. “There’s controversy even within the pro-life community as well.”
Faith2Action sent out a news release last Thursday contesting Senate President Keith Faber’s statement in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he said he was still awaiting Faith2Action representatives to produce a legal scholar that could argue the bill’s legality.
“This bill is an outrageous unconstitutional stunt,” said Gabriel Mann, a spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. “The sponsors of the bill are attempting to destroy reproductive rights for their own personal gain.”
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But Mann said he was skeptical the bill could pass the Senate.
He cited the fact that the bill has been through the state legislature twice already — in 2011 and 2014 — and failed to pass the Senate both times.
He also said legislative supporters of Ohio Gov. John Kasich would likely not support the bill.
“We know that he doesn’t want to see it come to his desk,” he said, adding the decision could endanger his chances if he decides to run for president in 2016.
“We’re anticipating that they are either going to give the bill one or two basic hearings and establish that it’s not constitutional,” he said.
Phillips also said she doesn’t see the bill as much of a threat.
“There’s no way to know for sure, but it doesn’t seem like the Senate is going to bring the bill to a vote,” she said.
Mann said his organization was more concerned about a bill that would ban abortions 20 weeks into pregnancy, sponsored by the Ohio Right to Life Society.
That group proposed six separate abortion-related bills in January, including one prohibiting the abortion of fetuses determined to have Down syndrome and one defunding Planned Parenthood.
House Rep. Kristina Roegnor, R-Hudson, and State Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Dayton sponsored those bills.
“We do feel … that’s the strong threat against women right now,” Mann said. “They’ve spread it out into half a dozen forms of attacking women.”
Porter maintained the heartbeat bill is still a very tangible reality.
“I believe that if every member of the Senate, even if most members of the Senate, follow their campaign promises, it’ll pass,” Porter said.
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