Ohio 20-Week Abortion Ban Goes Into Effect

News: US News
by Church Militant  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  March 16, 2017   

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (ChurchMilitant.com) - A new Ohio law, banning abortion up to 20 weeks gestation, went into effect March 15.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (SB 127) allows for the killing of children up to 20 weeks but places a total ban with no exceptions for any time afterwards.

Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said, "Whether we save one life or 1,000 lives, it's the right thing to do, and we're going to keep doing it."


Governor John Kasich signed the bill into law December 2016. At the time of the signing Kasich said, "I agree with Ohio Right to Life and other leading pro-life advocates that SB 127 is the best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life."
The 20-week ban is based on scientific evidence that unborn babies feel pain at 20 weeks. Prior to signing, Gov. Kasich had vetoed a bill with stricter provisions that would have banned all abortions after the first heartbeat was detected.
Pro-abortion advocates are critical of the law but are not the only ones upset with the recent bill. Some pro-lifers are upset with this incremental approach.
Gonidakis stated, "Ohio Right to Life firmly believes in the incremental approach, and every bill we pass is designed for strategic purposes."
Ohio Right to Life firmly believes in the incremental approach, and every bill we pass is designed for strategic purposes.

Brigit Jones of Catholic Stand, however, objects to this approach: "Much like the morally noxious idea of relativism, incremental thinking focuses on a particular detail of an issue and fails to see the larger picture. Instead of thinking of babies as equally valuable individuals, who all have a right to live, this mindset separates subcategories of babies from the rest."

Pro-abortion advocates have yet to issue a challenge to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the courts, but if a challenge is issued in court it is likely to be stopped by a federal judge. In August, U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett issued an injunction blocking an Ohio bill defunding Planned Parenthood at the request of the abortion giant.

On the same day the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act went into effect, the Iowa Senate also approved a bill banning abortion at 20 weeks.

After the Ohio senate session, Sen. Randy Feenstra said, "The conversation and dialogue on this subject has always perplexed me. At 20 weeks, it is a life — it is a girl; it is a boy. The question that I have always asked myself is, 'Why shouldn't that life have rights?'"

The bill further states that anyone who murders a child in the womb after 20 weeks gestation commits a class C felony. According to reports, "The legislation also allows an exception for a pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks when a doctor determines the pregnancy has a fetal anomaly incompatible with life."

 

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