Ohio GOP lawmakers address fetal remains issue

By Marc Kovac | December 15, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Ohio officials from taking legal action against Planned Parenthood to enforce fetal-tissue disposal rules.

Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. issued a temporary restraining order in the case, effectively blocking any state legal action until Jan. 11. He set a Jan. 4 hearing in the dispute.

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers also announced plans for legislation requiring aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated.

The actions at the Ohio Statehouse and federal court comes after state Attorney General Mike DeWine’s investigation into Planned Parenthood facilities. Backers say separate bills planned in the Ohio House and Senate were prompted, in part, by a determination by the attorney general that aborted fetuses from two Planned Parenthood locations in Ohio ended up in a Kentucky landfill.

Planned Parenthood has denied the attorney general’s allegations, and Gabriel Mann, spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, called the legislation and comments from Koehler and other lawmakers inflammatory and without basis.

“What we just saw in there was shocking,” Mann said, standing outside the Statehouse room where GOP lawmakers announced their legislation. “That’s the violent rhetoric that we’re asking politicians to tone down.”

On Friday, DeWine announced the conclusion of an investigation of Planned Parenthood, finding the group did not sell aborted fetus parts but did send aborted fetuses to a landfill – a move he said was in violation of a state rule requiring “humane” disposal.

He also said his office would ask a court to stop the practice and force Planned Parenthood to dispose of fetuses in accordance with state law.

Planned Parenthood countered the assertions, saying its facilities contracted with outside companies to handle the disposal of remains and that those activities were done in accordance to state law.

On Sunday, the group subsequently filed suit in federal court, seeking a pre-emptive injunction against DeWine.

Stephanie Kight, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said in a released statement, “We’re inspected regularly to ensure that we’re handling fetal tissue properly and legally. Politicians in Ohio will stop at nothing to ban abortion in all cases in our state.”

Reps. Tim Ginter of Salem, R-5th, and Barbara Sears, R-Toledo, are proposing law changes that would require the state health department to adopt rules requiring the burial or cremation of aborted fetuses from hospitals, abortion clinics and other medical facilities.

Contributor: Associated Press