While the Ohio law requiring a 24-hour hold between when a woman seeks an abortion and when she gets the procedure is still being litigated, two Republican lawmakers are pushing another waiting period that they say is different.
A Franklin County Common Pleas Court decision in August 2024 ruled the state law, which required doctors to provide abortion patients with information and wait 24 hours, was unconstitutional under the Reproductive Rights Amendment approved by voters in 2023. But Rep. Mike Odioso (R-Green Twp.) said this newly proposed waiting period would require doctors to give patients information about the physical and mental health risks of abortion.
Odioso told the House Health Committee that House Bill 347 would be required "to meet the same medical consent standards that apply to all care."
HB 347 is titled the "Share the Health and Empower With Informed Notices" or "SHE WINS" Act. Odioso and Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.) are the joint sponsors, with four other Republicans signed on as co-sponsors.
"'SHE WINS' does not seek to re-litigate the decision that Ohio voters made in August of 2023, but rather to provide women with the full protection of informed consent when making a stressful, life-altering decision," Odioso said.
Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin), who is an OB/GYN, questioned the sponsors about who determines what information would be provided. Somani said the pregnancy mortality rate is 8.8 deaths per 100,000 live births and the mortality rate for induced abortion is 0.6 per 100,000 abortions.
“Would you accept that abortion is actually safer for a mother than carrying a full-term pregnancy?" Somani asked.
Williams responded that he’d want to see those statistics for chemically induced abortions, such as the over-the-counter contraceptive pill Plan B.
"I think that would artificially inflate those numbers," Williams said.
This was the first sponsor testimony on the bill. But as with most abortion bills, it is expected to draw a lot of controversy if it continues to move through the legislative process.
