Republicans in the Ohio House have approved a bill to create a 24-hour waiting period between the time a patient seeks an abortion and when the procedure is actually conducted. The bill passed even as a Franklin County Court has put a similar waiting period on hold because of litigation following the approval of a constitutional amendment on reproductive rights and abortion access.
Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), one of the sponsors of House Bill 347 and a candidate for the 9th Congressional district, said this bill is constitutional because the new amendment allows the state to regulate safety, and this bill does that.
"It ensures that the process of receiving an abortion is held to the same acceptable clinical standards of medical practice and evidence-based medicine as any other major medical procedure," Williams said in debate on the House floor.
Sponsors noted the information can provided in person or remotely 24 hours in advance of an abortion. Rep. Melanie Miller (R-Ashland), who chairs the House's Pro-Life Caucus, said that information is needed.
“I’m tired of women being lied to about abortion," Miller said. "You cannot claim to trust women and claim to be serving women and helping women while also withholding critical facts.”
Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), a candidate for secretary of state, said the majority of voters who approved the reproductive rights amendment in 2023 are tired of bills like this.
“They are tired of being gaslit by this body that continually tries to tell our voters that they didn’t actually know what they were voting on," Russo said.
During the debate, Rep. Karen Brownlee (D-Symmes Twp.) introduced an amendment to require health plans under the state's Medicaid program to cover in-vitro fertilization and would have required coverage for some medical procedures to treat endometriosis and other gynecological illnesses that can affect fertility.
"In a time when U.S. birth rates are plummeting, expanding and supporting evidence-based reproductive health care should be a top priority in our state," Brownlee said.
Williams spoke out against that amendment, saying it was never offered during the committee process, so there wasn't any financial analysis performed to show the cost to administer it. The amendment was tabled with a party-line vote.
The bill passed on a strictly party line vote, 64-32. It now heads to the Republican-dominated Senate.
Abortion Forward Executive Director Kellie Copeland issued a statement that read in part, "Politicians should never put themselves between patients and their health care providers. Today’s vote is a clear attempt to trample on the rights of Ohioans in a cynical attempt to ward off primary election challengers.”
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio Executive Director Lauren Blauvelt said, "Retreading legislation that has been rejected time and time again is reprehensible and, frankly, disrespectful to the people these legislators claim to represent."
