In a quick hearing that ended in opponents yelling “shame,” the Ohio House Health Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would effectively add a 24-hour waiting period for abortion care.
The measure is similar to a state law that is currently not being enforced because a judge has blocked it as a lawsuit goes forward.
Ohio House Bill 347 was approved 9-3 along party lines by Republican lawmakers in the committee, without any further testimony or action on the bill.
The bill requires a physician to meet with a pregnant individual at least 24 hours before an abortion occurs to provide informed consent information, and establishes civil penalties against a physician who violates the bill.
Ohio’s State Medical Board would also be authorized to create rules “specifying adverse physical or psychological conditions arising from abortion that a physician must disclose as possible complications when meeting with the pregnant (person) as part of the informed consent process.”
Sponsors and supporters of the bill have said the measure doesn’t stop abortion from happening, it merely pushes physicians to provide information to patients before an abortion takes place.
State Rep. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, a committee member, said in a previous hearing on the bill that the requirements allow the pregnant individual to have “an opportunity to look at all the data,” in a situation that she said is “not coerced or rushed.”
Opponents say the bill conflicts with the constitutional amendment passed by Ohio voters in 2023 that established abortion rights in the state constitution.
In a hearing earlier this month on the bill, abortion rights advocates said the bill would impact low-income, rural, and minority groups the most.
These are typically the groups who have to travel the farthest for medical care, face hardships when it comes to transportation and child care, and who face economic barriers to medical care and other necessities, advocates said.
Advocates also argued that the bill is discriminatory, singling out abortion care for the requirements and waiting period.
“A state-mandated 24-hour waiting period will harm patients by creating additional barriers to care and increasing costs of the procedure,” said Jaime Miracle, deputy director of the abortion rights advocacy group Abortion Forward, in a statement following Wednesday’s hearing.
“For anti-abortion members of this legislature, this is a feature, not a flaw.”
The group said H.B. 347 violates the constitution in multiple ways.
They said it “directly burdens and interferes with an individual’s voluntary exercise of the right to abortion,” discriminates against abortion care and providers, and goes beyond the constitutional provision that requires the state to only impose the “least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.”
The lawsuit against the previous 24-hour waiting period law was temporarily blocked by a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge, who also paused a requirement that patients have a minimum of two in-person visits.
In pausing the law, the judges cited the constitutional amendment, calling the amendment language “easily understood and clear.”
The resolution of the lawsuit won’t come until at least later this year, based on the schedule from the Franklin County court.
The bill will now face a full vote from the Ohio House before moving on to the Ohio Senate for committee consideration and potential vote.
The House didn’t take up the measure in Wednesday’s session, so the bill won’t be up for a vote until at least next week.