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Ohio Republicans Considering ‘Pro-Life’ Bill That Would Make Abortions Punishable By Death; Grants No Exceptions For Rape, Incest, Medical Emergencies

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Ohio Republicans Considering ‘Pro-Life’ Bill That Would Make Abortions Punishable By Death; Grants No Exceptions For Rape, Incest, Medical Emergencies

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Ohio Republicans are considering a bill that would ban abortions entirely, characterizing an “unborn human” as a person under the state’s criminal code, meaning abortions could be punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty, according to local public radio station WOSU.

The proposed law, House Bill 565, would outlaw all abortions and grant no exceptions even in cases of rape, incest, or danger to a woman’s life.

The measure also redefines abortion to mean the purposeful termination of a pregnancy by any person, including the pregnant person, “any method, including, but not limited to, chemical methods, medical methods, and surgical methods.”



Jaime Miracle with NARAL Pro Choice Ohio warns that the bill would punish both women and doctors.

“This could criminalize women who have miscarriages that might seem suspicious to somebody or could criminalize in-vitro fertilization procedures that might end up with an embryo,” Miracle says.

ThinkProgress notes:

The bill also states that unlawful termination of another’s pregnancy will not be applied to a medical practitioner or a pregnant woman when it is “based on a surgical, chemical, or medical procedure to treat a disease” and “wherein the medical practitioner or pregnant woman does not knowingly, purposely, or recklessly induce or perform an abortion if the performance of such a procedure indirectly or unintentionally results in the termination of a human pregnancy, in which the practitioner has made every effort to protect the lives of both persons.”

It’s unclear what it would mean for the practitioner to make “every effort to protect the lives of both persons” and what that could mean for the health of the pregnant person.

“Across the USA, the heavy-handed policing of pregnant women’s behavior is shattering patient trust in health services with devastating consequences. These laws put pregnant women in a double bind, forcing them to choose between risking their health and risking punishment,” Carrie Eisert, Amnesty International policy adviser and author of the report, said in a statement following the report’s release. 




Newsweek adds:

Mary Ziegler, a professor at Florida State University’s College of Law who specializes in the legal history of reproduction and the Constitution, told Newsweek that while House Bill 565 “doesn’t actually say that women would get the death penalty,” it does “treat abortion as homicide and pretty clearly includes women having abortions among people who could be punished for having abortions.” 

As a result, Ziegler said, she believes that the possibility of women who undergo abortions, or practitioners who perform the procedure, facing severe penalties “is on the table” with the new bill. It defines abortion as the “unlawful termination of another’s pregnancy…causing the death of an unborn human, by any method, including, but not limited to, chemical methods, medical methods, and surgical methods.” 


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