States getting Roe may remake Assembly
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to give states ultimate jurisdiction over abortion could make and likely will make this year’s Ohio (state) Supreme Court races even more lively than they already were destined to be. It’ll also stir up the General Assembly.
That’s because a newly filed court case, backed by abortion clinics, may rank abortion front-and-center among the Ohio high court’s key issues when Ohioans elect or re-elect three state Supreme Court justices this November.
The starting gun went off Wednesday when Ohio abortion providers filed a state Supreme Court suit seeking to overturn Ohio’s so-called “heartbeat bill.” On
Friday, the court refused an immediate stay of the bill.
That measure forbids abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, at a time when a woman may not even know she is pregnant – that is, it forestalls women’s options.
Before Ohio’s heartbeat bill took effect, when a federal stay was lifted June 24 — same day the U.S. Supreme Court spiked Roe vs. Wade — abortion was legal in Ohio until 22 weeks into a pregnancy, the plaintiff’s complaint says.
One argument Wednesday’s lawsuit makes is that part of the Ohio Constitution — adopted, ironically, but ineffectively, to block the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) – forbids Ohio to interfere in women’s health-care decision-making.
The amendment, adopted by Ohio voters in 2011, had zero effect on Obamacare. But its official heading says it’s aimed at the “preservation of the freedom to choose health care and health care coverage.”
And its text says, “No federal, state, or local law or rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance … [or] impose a penalty or fine for the sale or purchase of health care or health insurance.”
Thus, the amendment, the pro-choice plaintiffs argue in Wednesday’s lawsuit, “expressly provides for the protection of individual autonomy in medical decision-making,” something the heartbeat bill clearly blocks.
How that argument will fare with Ohio’s Supreme Court is an open question. Officially, judicial candidates in Ohio don’t have opinions about anything much beyond the weather.
The court now has four Republican justices and three Democratic justices, with retiring Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’connor a swing vote in some cases. That is, in this year’s judicial jousting over Republican gerrymandering of General Assembly districts by the Goprun redistricting commission, O’connor sided with the court’s three Democrats.
In any event, O’connor is retiring. Vying to succeed her are (associate) Justices Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, and Sharon Kennedy, a Republican.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has reported that, “in a 2014 questionnaire for Greater Cincinnati Right to Life, Kennedy agreed with the statements: ‘an unborn child is biologically human at every stage of his or her biological development, beginning at fertilization.’”
Also on this November’s Supreme Court ballot are incumbent Republican Justices R. Patrick (Pat) Dewine and Patrick Fischer. Challenging Pat Dewine is Democratic 1st District Court of Appeals Judge Marilyn Zayas of Cincinnati. Challenging Fischer is Democratic 10th
strongly for children who have been born as they advocated for forcing women to carry pregnancies to term. I won’t hold my breath.
Patrick Keenist, Columbus
They want your rights
They’re coming to take your rights. The truth of that statement is undeniable. They want to control every aspect of our lives. They want to control our thinking, our morality, our choices, and our freedom.
They are passing legislation that limits what teachers can teach, legislation that limits access to the ballot box, legislation that dictates health choices that women can make, and legislation that makes it more and more dangerous to be out in public and attend school.
Who are “they”? According to the National Conference of State Legislators, “they” are white male state legislators, mostly Republican. According to the National Conference of State Legislators’ own statistics, fully 78% of state legislators are white, 71% are male, and Republicans control two-thirds of state legislative chambers.
The mood recently has become so polarized and those in control know they can push through almost any piece of legislation they want. Examples are the numerous “trigger” laws that outlaw abortion and are just waiting for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade – and that day has come. Who but white males would put all the burden of pregnancy on the woman?
I taught life science for 28 years in Ohio public schools and, if I remember the reproduction lessons correctly, it takes a man and a woman to create a fetus. Yet, the laws focus on punishing the woman if a pregnancy is unwanted, and worse, even in cases of rape and incest.
And it’s only going to get worse. In the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, “Justice” Clarence Thomas wrote that he thinks the Supreme Court should be in the business of also overturning same-sex marriage and contraception decisions.
It’s open season on rights and state legislatures that do not reflect the populations they serve have already set their causes in motion.
Ohio’s legislators are vivid examples: They don’t trust teachers to select books for the school libraries nor do they trust teachers to decide what to teach in their classrooms, but these legislators are eager to put guns in the hands of those same teachers.
Consider the percentages of white, male, and Republican cited earlier and think about the faces and beliefs of Americans. Americans are 61% white, 49% male, and 43% Republican.
Until State legislatures reflect more accurately those they represent, the white, male, mostly Republican legislators will be deciding a lot about our freedom and the freedom of our children and grandchildren.
The only way it is going to change is at the ballot box. Thinking Americans must unite, vote en masse and make their voices heard.
Charles A. Summers, Pataskala
Welcome to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Fifty years ago, a friend and I flew to New York so she could obtain a legal abortion. Roe v. Wade afforded women the right to make personal medical decisions. In a recent survey, 61% of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal all or most of the time.
The June 24 Supreme Court decision rescinded that right.
Women are again subject to the whims of contraception – devices that fail, bad reactions to pills, and partners unwilling to share responsibility for contraception. As evidence, almost 1/4 of U.S. women seek an abortion before age 40.
Pregnancy makes women vulnerable to viruses and life-changing illness. Gestational diabetes, blood clots, high blood pressure, and preeclampsia “are major health risks for pregnant individuals during pregnancy and throughout their lifespan,” according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Not to mention, “[T]he U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries” by a significant margin.
And maternal deaths in the U.S. are increasing annually.
Women will no longer be able to terminate pregnancies that endanger their lives. Victims of rape or incest will have to carry the result of the crime to term. The Supreme Court withdrew a right from 50% of the population because of their gender. So begins “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Susan O’donnell, Columbus