Ohio GOP lawmakers propose abortion ban echoing Texas law being challenged at the Supreme Court

Ohio Republican lawmakers want to replicate the abortion ban passed in Texas and facing a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court. 

House Bill 480, introduced Tuesday, would allow anyone to sue a doctor who performs an abortion or an individual who "aids or abets" an abortion. Anyone who performs or assists in an abortion could face a fine of at least $10,000 per abortion.

The bill includes a broad definition of abortion, including a ban on administering, procuring or selling any instrument, medicine or drug to terminate a pregnancy. The proposal would add to Ohio law the language: "All human beings are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The bill goes a step further than Texas's law by banning all abortions rather than only those after a fetal heartbeat is detected. 

Sponsors of the bill – Reps. Jena Powell, R-Arcanum, and Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township – call the bill the "2363 Act" for the number of abortions performed daily in America. In 2018, 619,591 abortions were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or nearly 1,698 per day, according to its latest report.

More than 20,000 abortions were performed in Ohio last year, according to an Ohio Department of Health report.  

“The sanctity of human life, born and preborn, must be preserved in Ohio,” Powell said in a statement. “Abortion kills children, scars families, and harms women. We can and must do better.”

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said she worried such a law would deputize "anti-abortion vigilantes" in the state. A Madison County man was recently sentenced to 20 months in prison for posting death threats on the social media page of a nonprofit abortion support group. 

"We know when things are criminalized, Black folks, women of color and nonbinary people are the ones most under scrutiny," Copeland said. "Other people who have the money will find a way to flee Ohio to get the care they need."

Rep. Lisa Sobecki, D-Toledo, said lawmakers should focus on ways to help families, such as improving access to affordable childcare, rather than banning abortions in the state. But she's not surprised that Republicans introduced this bill.

"It was really just a matter of time until Republicans introduced legislation like Texas," Sobecki said. 

The proposal, which has 33 Republican cosponsors, is backed by the Right to Life Action Coalition and Created Equal, which often shares graphic photos of aborted fetuses on posters. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said he was reviewing the legislation. He said the organization is "laser-focused" on enacting a trigger law that bans abortion in the state if the landmark case Roe v. Wade is overturned.

The Texas law, which has effectively ended abortions in the state amid a legal challenge, was reviewed at the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. It's unclear how quickly the court could rule.