Ohio’s 20-week abortion ban took effect Tuesday with no signs of a lawsuit challenging the new abortion restrictions.
The law, dubbed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prohibits abortions after a fetus is 20 weeks or more post-fertilization, or about 22 weeks into a pregnancy as measured by physicians.
Physicians who violate the law face fourth-degree felony charges, punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Doctors could also be sued by women on whom they perform the illegal abortions or by the fathers of the fetuses.
Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion lobby, pushed the law as part of its strategy to chip away at abortion rights while withstanding court challenges. The ultimate goal: overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to restrict abortions performed after viability, generally considered 24 weeks.
Ohio Right to Life also cheered the absence of a lawsuit challenging the ban. Fifteen other states have passed similar laws; two were struck down by courts.
A lawsuit is still on the table, said ACLU of Ohio lobbyist Mike Brickner. Brickner said the law is unconstitutional and the ACLU will monitor the law’s implementation.
Of the nearly 21,000 abortions performed in Ohio in 2015, 145 occurred after 21 weeks, state records show. Critics of the law say many of those were performed because of fetal abnormalities or pregnancy complications not known until that point.
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