Ohio House overrides heartbeat abortion ban veto

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Republican-led Ohio House has overridden GOP Gov. John Kasich’s (KAY’-siks) veto of legislation imposing one of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in the nation.

The House eked out its 60-28 override Thursday over strong objections by Democrats, who argued Ohio is leading a charge against women and the bill is unconstitutional.

The vote sent the so-called heartbeat bill to the waiting Senate.

The measure bans abortion after the first fetal heartbeat is detected. That can be as soon as six weeks into pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.

The term-limited governor, who leaves office next month, said in a veto message that the bill is unconstitutional and he wanted to avoid a costly and unsuccessful court battle. It was his second veto of similar legislation since 2016.