Texas, Ohio move to ban abortions

The governor and attorney general of Texas are moving to ban most abortions in the state during the coronavirus outbreak, declaring they don’t qualify as essential surgeries.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday that the order issued over the weekend by Gov. Greg Abbott barred “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.”

Failure to comply with the order can result in penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time, Paxton said.

“No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers,” Paxton said. “Those who violate the governor’s order will be met with the full force of the law.”

The issue also has flared in Ohio, where abortion clinics received letters Friday from Republican Attorney General Dave Yost ordering them to cease all “non-essential” surgical abortions. Yost wrote that the procedures violate a March 17 order issued by the state health director.

However, representatives of Ohio clinics said that they were in compliance with the health director’s order and planned to continue providing abortions.

Amid the moves by Ohio and Texas, a coalition of anti-abortion groups urged its allies across the nation to ask governors to ban most abortions on the grounds they were not essential. “If abortion is a ‘choice’ then abortion is an elective procedure,” said Mark Harrington, president of the anti-abortion group Created Equal.

Abortion-rights leaders nationwide decried the tactic, saying it was an affront to women grappling with difficult decisions amid the disruptions of the pandemic.

“Abortion is time-sensitive, essential health care,” said Katherine Hancock

Ragsdale, president of the National Abortion Federation. “Women deserve better than a craven exploitation of a health care crisis in furtherance of an antiabortion agenda.”

In Ohio, abortion clinics planned to remain in operation.

Jennifer Branch, an attorney for the Women’s Med Center of Dayton, said the clinic had already taken steps to minimize the use of personal protective equipment — one of the issues raised in the state’s order.

The CEOs of two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Ohio are said their clinics also were in compliance. Cleveland-based Preterm, the busiest abortion clinic in Ohio, is not open on Mondays but said it was continuing to take appointments.

Bethany McCorkle, a spokesman for Yost, said the orders sent to three abortion clinic operators weren’t politically motivated, but rather, were due to complaints from the public. She said they were similar to orders sent to a urology practice.