Most second trimester abortions would be banned in Ohio under a bill introduced Thursday in the Senate.
Senate Bill 145 would ban dilation and evacuation, an abortion method typically used between 13 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. Its sponsors are Republican Sens. Matt Huffman of Lima and Steve Wilson of Maineville.
During the procedure, also called a D&E, the woman’s cervix is dilated and the fetus and other tissue are removed with surgical instruments and suction.
Nationally, 95 percent of second trimester abortions are performed using D&E, and the procedure is also used after some miscarriages. About 3,000 of the nearly 21,000 abortions performed in Ohio in 2015 used the method, according to state health department records.
Physicians could be charged with a fourth-degree felony for performing a D&E, called a “dismemberment abortion” in the bill, and spend up to 18 months in prison. The bill makes an exception for the life of the mother or serious risk of “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
The proposed “Dismemberment Abortion Ban” is a key legislative priority for Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization. Devin Scribner, the group’s executive director, said the bill is the next step in an incremental strategy to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S.
The group counts more than a dozen wins on that front. The latest: A law banning abortions after about 22 weeks gestation, which went into effect in March.
“Not only will [Senate Bill 145] prove itself to be constitutionally sound, it will go great distances in saving thousands of lives in Ohio and nationwide,” Scribner said.
Abortion rights advocates disagree. Seven states have banned the procedure since 2015, and most are on hold while being challenged in court.
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