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Abortion rights backers ask court to stop Ohio’s required 24-hour waiting period

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Advocates for abortion rights are suing over a state law that requires patients to wait a minimum of 24 hours before they can get an abortion. This is one of a few cases that have been filed over existing abortion-related law since the reproductive rights amendment known as Issue 1 was approved by 57% of Ohio voters last fall.

Judge David Young of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court hears case involving constitutionality of Ohio's law requiring a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion.
Judge David Young of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court hears case involving constitutionality of Ohio’s law requiring a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion. [Franklin County Common Pleas Court]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is arguing the constitutional amendment voters approved in November makes the 24-hour wait unconstitutional. Ohio law also dictates patients be provided state mandated information, which the ACLU of Ohio’s Jessie Hill said is unnecessary and discriminates against abortion and abortion providers.

“No other comparable, time-sensitive medical procedure is subject to a mandatory waiting period nor is any other medical procedure or treatment subject to an in-person, informed consent requirement under Ohio law,” Hill said in court.

Hill said the reproductive rights amendment mandates that abortion cannot be treated differently from other medical treatments.

The state filed a motion to dismiss the case. Amanda Narog with the Ohio Attorney General’s office said the clinics and doctors who brought the case didn’t have standing to sue, and that only women who have personally been harmed would have reason to come before the court on a case like this.

And Narog said the waiting period doesn’t violate the new amendment, and that the law requires doctors give patients information about whether the fetus has a heartbeat, the gestational age of their fetus, and the likelihood of bringing the pregnancy to term.

“Even without this law, they would still be required to provide informed consent to their patients. They can’t avoid providing specific information about that patient’s condition just because the patient doesn’t want to know it,” Narog said.

It is now up to Judge David Young to determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the law.