Just days after a federal judge put a hold on Ohio's new restriction on abortion, House Republicans have introduced a bill that aims to abolish all abortions in the state.
H.B. 565, sponsored by state Reps. Ron Hood and Nino Vitale, would prohibit abortions even in cases of rape, incest or danger to a woman's life.
Under the measure, both the doctor and the pregnant woman seeking an abortion could face criminal charges and the "unborn human" would be considered as a person under Ohio's criminal code regarding homicide, NPR reported. The proposal would also allow doctors to be charged with murder or be sued for wrongful deaths of aborted babies.
Christian News Network reported that the woman on whom the abortion is performed will not face charges if she "(a) makes a report; (b) provides information during an investigation; [and] (c) participates in a hearing."
Vitale described the proposal as a "save them both" bill and said that many women who conceive in rape later regret their abortions.
"Life isn't always giving us things by our choice and I don't want to put a woman through a second trauma after she's been through such an awful first one," he said, according to National Review.
While the bill is unlikely to be approved, the sponsors are hoping that it will "get the word out that life does begin at conception and move the debate in that direction."
Hood noted that he knows that the bill could be found unconstitutional in a federal court, but the decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider abortion access.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio denounced the bill, saying it is an obvious attempt to give the U.S. Supreme Court a chance to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ruling that legalized the procedure in 1973.
"Anti-choice extremists from the Ohio Statehouse to the White House are lining up their dominoes to topple Roe v. Wade and punish those who seek or provide abortion care," a statement from NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio executive director Kellie Copeland read.
The proposal came after a judge prevented the implementation of a new law that would have banned abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
Ohio lawmakers have worked to pass more abortion restrictions in recent years, including a 20-week ban on the procedure that went into effect in 2017.
In 2016, Republican Gov. John Kasich vetoed a bill that would have banned abortions after the fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks.
