Governor’s veto sets up showdown over abortion

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio has moved again to impose some of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in the nation, after Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a ban Friday on dilation and evacuation terminations and set up a showdown with lawmakers over his veto of the so-called heartbeat bill.

Kasich had previously signed 20 abortion-limiting proposals into law in this politically divided state since taking office in 2011, including a 20-week ban that both sides agree is unconstitutional. The number of full-service Ohio abortion clinics has shrunk from 16 to seven since he took office.

But the heartbeat bill has twice proven too extreme for Kasich, a potential 2020 presidential candidate who’s spent the past two years in a quest for bipartisan consensus.

The measure calls for banning the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected. That can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Kasich vetoed a similar bill two years ago and did so again Friday.

In a veto message, he said the heartbeat bill is likely to be struck down as unconstitutional – but only after a costly court fight.

“The State of Ohio will be the losing party in that lawsuit and, as the losing party, the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists’ lawyers,” he wrote.

Ohio lawmakers return to Columbus on Thursday to consider overrides of several Kasich vetoes, although it’s unclear whether they’ll have enough votes to override the heartbeat bill veto. Among factors are vacation schedules and the fact that Kasich’s successor, Gov.-elect Mike DeWine, has said he would sign a heartbeat bill once he takes the helm.

Kasich signed the ban on dilation and evacuation terminations, a procedure known as D&E that is a common second-trimester abortion method. Similar laws have been rejected by the courts.

Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action and the heartbeat bill’s author, said she believes Ohio is more conservative today than it was when her effort began nearly eight years ago. Advances in medical technology that have allowed fetal heartbeat detection earlier in pregnancy also have helped her make her case, she said.

“To deny a heartbeat is basically to deny science,” Porter said. “So, these people who are ranting and raving, they’re basically science-deniers. To ignore a heartbeat is heartless; that’s basically the message.”

Many Republican lawmakers initially looked askance at Porter’s lobbying tactics, which included teddy bear and balloon deliveries to legislators’ offices, an ultrasound conducted during a committee hearing and a Statehouse flyover. But now she said anti-abortion activists in other states, including Mississippi and Alabama, are looking to Ohio as a model.

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, rejects the suggestion that Ohioans are clamoring for the heartbeat bill any more today than they were in 2011. She said term-limited lawmakers elected from safe legislative districts redrawn in Republicans’ favor are pushing measures that are not necessarily in step with the state as a whole.