Judge blocks restrictive Ohio abortion law as suit proceeds
LA TimesHamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins speaks in his courtroom in downtown Cincinnati on Friday. The 2019 so-called “heartbeat” abortion ban briefly went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June, but it was later put on temporary hold. “I’ve seen many, many more patients end up in intensive care units after having a baby compared to women who have had an abortion,” Ralston said in video testimony. “In fact, I can’t even remember a time that I’ve seen a woman end up in a care unit after an abortion.” The state’s attorneys brought witness Dr. Dennis Sullivan, a bioethics expert from Cedarville University, a private Baptist institution, who testified that human life begins at conception and that it is “scientifically not open to debate.” He said that Ohio’s law is “consistent with good medical practice” and that he views performing abortions under its limited exceptions — which include the life of the woman or risk of extensive internal organ damage — as medically ethical. It bans most abortions after the first detectable “fetal heartbeat.” Embryonic cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before a heart has developed, and before many women know they’re pregnant.