Friday, April 12, 2019
By JESSICA HARDIN
jhardin@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
The bill Gov. Mike DeWine signed Thursday banning abortions after a detectable fetal heartbeat won’t affect any abortion clinics in Youngstown, because there aren’t any.
Youngstown’s last abortion clinic, the Mahoning Women’s Center at 4025 Market St., was shuttered in 2010 after operating for 33 years.
There are currently seven surgical facilities that perform abortions in Ohio and two other providers that offer patient medication abortions, said Gabriel Mann, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio communications manager.
“Youngstown is split. For some, it will be closer to go to Akron, but we refer a lot of people to Allegheny Reproductive Health Center in Pittsburgh,” said Mann. Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Akron is 54 miles from Youngstown. Allegheny Reproductive Health Center is 71 miles from Youngstown.
A woman in Youngstown who wants to get an abortion in Akron would have to make the drive twice.
As of May 1, 2018, women seeking abortions in Ohio must receive in-person state-directed counseling 24 hours before the procedure, necessitating two trips to the facility.
Ohio is one of 27 states to require counseling and a specified waiting period between counseling and the procedure.
On Thursday, Ohio joined Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa and North Dakota in criminalizing abortion of fetuses with a heartbeat.
Fetal heartbeats are detectable as early as five or six weeks into a pregnancy. The bill makes an exception to preserve the health of the mother, but does not make exceptions for rape or incest.
“Many women don’t even realize they’re pregnant six weeks after conception. This would make abortion illegal even before a woman realizes she’s pregnant. It would effectively ban all abortions in Ohio,” said Freda Levenson, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
DeWine’s predecessor John Kasich vetoed the “heartbeat bill” twice, saying it was unconstitutional and would result in a costly court challenge.
Levenson predicts that the bill will be stricken before it’s set to take effect in 90 days.
“We plan to go to court well before 90 days and ask for preliminary relief and stop it before it takes effect ... Bills like this have been challenged recently in four other states. Every time, the bill was determined to be unconstitutional and stricken. We’re completely confident that this bill violated clearly established constitutional law,” said Levenson.
For Sally Perunko, president of Mahoning County Right to Life, the legislation is good news.
“We’re very happy. This was passed to protect life,” Perunko said.
The group plans to join a national protest against Planned Parenthood scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today at Planned Parenthood’s Youngstown location on Midlothian Boulevard.
The legislation Perunko lauds will have a disproportionate effect on low-income women, young women and women of color, argued Mann.
“Women from Youngstown will go to Pittsburgh, but not all of them. When people are denied access to the care that’s right for them, we see horrible outcomes ... We don’t want women to die from this,” said Mann.