by JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated PressIssue 1 supporters cheer as they watch election results come in, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Columbus Ohio.
A group of abortion clinics sought to overturn the law even before voters approved Issue 1, which gives every person in Ohio “the right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.” Besides the case before Jenkins, challenges also are pending to several of Ohio’s other abortion restrictions.
Minority Democrats proposed a House measure to bring state law into compliance with the new amendment outside the courts. Their bill, a nonstarter with Ohio's Republican supermajorities, would have repealed the cardiac activity ban; a ban on dilation and evacuation, a common second-trimester abortion procedure; mandatory 24-hour waiting periods; the transfer agreement requirement; and other targeted restrictions on abortion providers.