LIMA — Now that abortions are effectively banned in Ohio, the state’s legislators will spend the rest of this year focused on clarifying the lines between medically necessary and voluntary ends of pregnancies.
“With the current Heartbeat Bill, probably 80 to 85% of the abortions that were happening in Ohio aren’t now,” said Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, during a visit to the Allen County Fair on Friday. “So this is a smaller group of those. You want to go through and say, ‘Well, this type of procedure, is that illegal or not?’”
The same thing can be expected in Ohio’s House, said Susan Manchester, R-Waynesfield. She is unopposed in the November general election, and her district boundaries will change to include Allen County starting next year.
“Our primary objective is dealing with Ohio’s pro-life laws in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade,” Manchester said during a visit to the fair Friday. “… We have very strong pro-life laws in effect now because of the Heartbeat Bill, which I voted for, but I anticipate we’re going to see changes to make Ohio an even more pro-life state.”
While Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate, there will still be a fight. Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, said in a press release in July after the Heartbeat Bill’s passage, that more limitations should be expected, including rules against in vitro fertilization and perhaps even birth control.
“This bill is a good reminder of what’s at stake this election and just how far Republicans will go to punish women, from ripping away abortion rights to banning IVF and coming for birth control in our state,” Keyes said. “Nothing is off the table for these radical Republicans.”
Huffman, who said he anticipates remaining the president of the Senate in the next session, dismissed those concerns, saying, “There’s a lot of scenarios, and some of them I’d say are raised disingenuously.”
The Senate’s health committee, which includes two doctors, including Huffman’s cousin and the chairman, Dr. Stephen Huffman, will consider a number of issues. Among them are concerns about charging doctors with crimes if they’re part of an abortion, what to do with frozen embryos and circumstances when a baby is unlikely to survive and medical procedures could save the mother.
“You have cases where a child is not going to survive the pregnancy, and the doctor knows that,” Matt Huffman said. “Doctors sometimes will, for the health of the mother, induce labor, knowing the child will not survive that. That’s done by pro-life doctors and other doctors, and that’s definitely not an abortion,” Huffman said. “Well, that doesn’t say that in the Ohio Revised Code. In fact, in one bill that’s introduced, as it’s currently listed, it’s listed as a defense to a criminal charge. We don’t want that.”
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
