Two lawmakers in Ohio introduced legislation to completely abolish abortion in the state, a measure that was controversially opposed by a prominent pro-life establishment group.
The newly submitted legislation, entitled the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, would work to “abolish abortion in Ohio by establishing equal protection of the laws for preborn babies,” according to a release from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion. The bill would simply apply existing homicide laws that already protect born people to protect preborn people as well.
End Abortion Ohio, the grassroots organization behind the bill, described that “these legal protections would be granted from the beginning of biological development, the moment of fertilization.”
“The filing of the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act marks a historic event in Ohio. Never before in this state has legislation been introduced that would provide equal protection to the preborn,” the organization added. “With the introduction of this bill, Ohio joins the growing movement that is sweeping the nation and becomes the twenty-third state in the union to file a bill of equal protection.”
Ohio State Republican Representative Ezra Dean and Ohio State Republican Representative Johnathan Newman are the main sponsors of the bill and are joined by seven of their colleagues as cosponsors.
“In numerous cases where someone has been prosecuted for and convicted of killing a pregnant woman, the charges and conviction were for two counts of murder: one for the mother and one for her preborn child,” Dean said in a statement. “Our laws and the courts do this because it is acknowledged that taking innocent life is wrong regardless of whether the victim is born or preborn.”
Some have expressed doubts over the legislation since Ohio previously enshrined a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion, but the Foundation to Abolish Abortion emphasized in their release that the bill would nullify that amendment and enable a legal challenge invoking the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
“We have a mandate from God to protect human life, which is of higher authority than any constitution,” Newman continued in the statement.
Ohio Right to Life, a leading pro-life establishment group in the state, has a longstanding record of opposing equal protection of the laws for preborn babies. Many other pro-life establishment groups have likewise subverted abolition legislation across the country.
Mike Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, said in a statement to the media that “we have never supported criminalizing a woman for having an abortion, and we never will.”
Supporters of the bill noted that he opposed the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act alongside entities like the Democratic National Committee, which also issued a public statement against the legislation.
