Ohio could see legal challenges after ballot initiative
Case Western Reserve University Professor Jonathan Entin explains how it would all play out in court system
(Professor Jonathan Entin)
Lawyers will challenge many abortion restrictions if Ohio passes a ballot initiative in November. Many of those laws will be invalidated with the new amendment guiding jurisprudence.
Jonathan Entin, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, explained how it will play out.
“I think some of them–not all–but some of them would probably fail because the amendment says that the state can't penalize, prohibit, or interfere with, among other things. abortion rights,” Entin said.
Right now, Ohio has a six-week fetal heartbeat law that forbids abortions after that time. That law is still being challenged in court. Abortion is still legal in Ohio. Entin doesn’t see how that law could stand if or when the ballot initiative passes.
One of the other legal questions facing abortion rights lawyers is whether clinics will have legal standing–or the right to pursue a lawsuit–in any challenge to the abortion rights laws. The State Supreme Court is currently deciding that. It will have significant implications.
“If the court, in this pending case, decides that abortion providers do not have standing to challenge abortion regulations, then it will be more complicated to challenge existing abortion regulations, even if the amendment passes,” Entin said.
If abortion clinics don’t have legal standing, then the only people who could pursue a case against the state would be women who needed abortions.
“It may be hard to find a plaintiff to come into court,” Entin said.
The Ohio Supreme Court has four Republicans and three Democrats. Three Republicans had been on the ballot last year in the general election. On a questionnaire from an anti-abortion organization, they indicated that there was no constitutional right to an abortion and that life began at conception. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed the other Republican justice.
“I can't say for sure how this is going to how this is going to play out,” Entin said. “I mean, some of the questions that are going to come up, I think, should not be overly difficult.”
Other laws that Ohio has about abortion could stand. It bans state funding for abortion clinics. The state also has a transfer requirement that clinics have to be within 30 miles of a hospital.
“There's been litigation about these restrictions, and so far, they've been upheld,” Entin said. “But that's before we have this amendment on the books. I think that it will be harder to uphold those sorts of restrictions if this amendment passes.”