Judge blocks Ohio abortion law for now

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on Wednesday, siding with abortion clinics that had argued the law would effectively end the procedure in the state.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett halts the July 11 enforcement of the law.

Ohio is among a dozen states that have considered similar legislation this year. Courts have already blocked substantially similar laws in Kentucky and Mississippi. Abortion providers also have sued in Alabama and Georgia.

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine signed the Ohio law in April, after predecessor John Kasich, a fellow Republican, twice vetoed it.

His spokesman, Dan Tierney said: “Gov. Dewine has long believed that this issue would ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Ohio Right to Life, the state’s oldest and largest anti-abortion group, called the judge’s decision disappointing but not surprising.

Abortion rights advocates praised the decision.

In other parts of the country:

A proposal to ban abortions at 22 weeks in Colorado moved closer to being on next year’s ballot on Wednesday. The state’s title board, made up of representatives of the Secretary of State’s Office, the state Attorney General’s Office and the Legislature’s legal office, agreed the measure dealt with only one issue as required by state law.

Anyone who disagrees with the decision can appeal to the board within the next week and possibly to the state Supreme Court after that.

Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi on Tuesday rescheduled a hearing on whether Missouri’s only abortion clinic should have its license renewed for the last week of October. It had been set for Aug. 1.