Ohio voters approved reproductive rights. Will the state's near-ban on abortion stand?

A county judge could rule as early as Monday on Ohio's law banning virtually all abortions, a decision that will take into consideration the decision by voters to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution.

The 2019 law under consideration by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins bans most abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women are aware.

A group of abortion clinics sought to overturn the law even before voters approved Issue 1, which gives every person in Ohio “the right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.”

Ohio's Republican attorney general, Dave Yost, acknowledged in court filings that the 2023 amendment rendered the ban unconstitutional, but has sought to maintain other elements of the prohibition, including certain notification and reporting provisions.

Ohio was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question in 2023, joining a growing number of states where voters are choosing to protect abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide protections granted by its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Besides the case before Jenkins, challenges also are pending to several of Ohio’s other abortion restrictions.

Those include a ban on the use of telehealth for medication abortions, a requirement that fetal remains from surgical abortions be cremated or buried, a 24-hour waiting period requirement and a mandate that abortion clinics maintain emergency transfer agreements with local hospitals. Such agreements have been rendered impossible to get by related laws in some cases.

Ohio’s ban on abortions because of a Down syndrome diagnosis remains in effect,