Ohio on Friday became the fourth state to ban abortions performed after a prenatal test shows the fetus has or might have Down syndrome.
Gov. John Kasich signed into law House Bill 214, the 20th abortion restriction passed since he took office in 2011, and 14 other bills Friday morning.
Under the law, doctors who know of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis and perform an abortion could be charged with a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison. There is no punishment for the woman who seeks the abortion.
The new law will take effect sometime in late March.
Supporters said that allowing abortions after a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis amounted to discrimination and modern day eugenics.
Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, lobbied for the bill during the past two legislative sessions. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis thanked “pro-life champion” Kasich for signing the bill and said the law gives unborn babies a shot at life.
Opponents said the bill would have a chilling effect on patients’ conversations with their doctors and does nothing to improve the lives of Ohioans with Down syndrome.
Some GOP lawmakers voted against the bill because similar measures have been found unconstitutional in other states, including neighboring Indiana.
Ohio does not keep track of why women seek abortions, so it is not known how many of the nearly 21,000 performed in 2016 were because of a Down syndrome diagnosis.
Nationally, the average abortion rate after a Down syndrome diagnosis is 67 percent, according to a 2012 survey of abortion studies published in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis. More than 95 percent of pregnant women don’t elect to have amniocentesis, an invasive prenatal test used to diagnose Down syndrome, according to the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.
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