This procedure is banned in the U.S. Why is it a hot topic in fight over Ohio’s abortion amendment?President George W. Bush signs legislation banning so-called partial-birth abortions, Nov. 5, 2003, in Washington, as from left, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn.
Constitutional scholars say that is not true and that the amendment would not override the existing federal ban if Ohio voters approve it. Ohio is the only state this November where voters will decide whether abortion should be legal. But the debate isn’t happening in isolation. The state has been used as a campaign testing ground by anti-abortion groups after a string of defeats since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to the procedure.
Asked why the governor suggested a federal law he supported would not apply if Ohio changes its constitution, spokesman Dan Tierney said DeWine bases his position on provisions of the U.S. Constitution that prevent the federal government from regulating conduct that has no effect on interstate commerce. Kobil acknowledged that argument, but said it’s “almost certain to fail” if tested, given that the Supreme Court already declared the ban constitutional.
Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, whose political arm is a major funder of the campaign opposing the amendment, said the federal ban “lacks enforcement” under a Biden Administration she described as “extreme pro-abortion.” Ohio passed the nation’s first ban on what its lawmakers then dubbed “partial birth feticide” in 1995, just three years after Ohio physician Martin Haskell debuted the D&X procedure during an abortion practitioners conference. He touted it as a way to avoid an overnight hospital stay and as safer and less painful for women than other methods.