WASHINGTON – The Ohio Congress approved one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the nation today, banning this procedure if the heartbeat is detected in the fetus.
The state Senate gave its approval to the version of the proposal approved previously by the Lower House and that includes a clause that requires women to undergo an ultrasound test in the vagina if they want to have an abortion.
The initiative received the support of 18 votes and had 13 against in the Upper Chamber, while in the Lower it received the support of 56 legislators against 39.
The new law will now have to be signed by the governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, who has already expressed support for it.
In a statement, Democratic Senator Nickie J. Antonio called on her colleagues to work “for legislation that addresses the real problems of Ohio’s families: maternal and child health, affordable health care, child poverty and access to good jobs. “
“I am with the women of Ohio, I trust that women are fully capable of making important personal decisions,” Antonio said.
Apart from adding the requirement to undergo ultrasound in the vagina, which can detect the heartbeat of the fetus at six weeks, when most of the women do not know they are pregnant, the version of the lower house approved today eliminates a Provision that affirmed that it is the state’s interest to protect the life and health of women who seek reproductive assistance.
Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat, criticized the Republicans in the same communiqué that, in her opinion, they are wasting legislators’ time and waste the taxpayer’s resources with a “flagrantly unconstitutional abortion law.”
“Not only does it challenge science, it is inhumane,” Fedor added, “not allowing exceptions such as rapes, incest or for the life of the mother, Republicans guarantee the death of women in this state.”
In the note, the Senate Democrats say that the new regulation criminalizes health professionals and provides prison sentences for doctors who carry out abortions.
At the national level, although in 1973 the Supreme Court opened the door to the legalization of abortion, in the last decade conservative states, such as Texas, Michigan, Missouri and Virginia, have placed legal restrictions to promote their so-called “pro-life” agenda.
The 1973 ruling, in the “Roe vs Wade” case, technically did not indicate that abortion is legal, but declared unconstitutional state interference in the decision of the woman on the continuation of her pregnancy. (EFEUSA)
