Reproductive rights and civil liberties groups condemned as “unconstitutional and medically unnecessary” a bill signed into law Wednesday by Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine requiring the burial or cremation of fetal remains resulting from abortion.
Senate Bill 27, an update of a 1975 law, requires the “humane disposition of the product of human conception” — specifically, any “zygote, blastocyte, embryo, or fetus,” either by “burial or entombment” or cremation “in a crematory facility.”
Under the law, anyone having an abortion in Ohio will be notified beforehand that they can choose the method and location of fetal disposition. If they do not choose, it is up to the abortion provider to decide and pay for the burial or cremation. Healthcare providers who do not comply face potential first-degree misdemeanor charges that carry a $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
As state attorney general, DeWine conducted an investigation into unfounded allegations that Planned Parenthood of Ohio profited from the sale of aborted fetuses. However, the probe found that fetal remains had been disposed of in landfills, sparking outrage from anti-abortion advocates and prompting the new law.
As governor, DeWine has been a consistent foe of reproductive rights. Last year, he signed a so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill, one of the nation’s most restrictive anti-choice laws, that was subsequently challenged in court by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and the ACLU. Last July, a judge temporarily blocked the law pending further litigation.
Both Planned Parenthood and the ACLU blasted the updated fetal remains law.
We are deeply disappointed (but ultimately not surprised) that @GovMikeDeWine signed this unconstitutional bill into law. It is just one more transparent attempt to obstruct Ohioans from exercising their constitutionally protected reproductive rights.https://t.co/CgO6Pjd62U
— ACLU of Ohio (@acluohio) December 30, 2020
“The only purpose of Senate Bill 27 is to further stigmatize/shame abortion and attack abortion providers across the state,” tweeted Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. “During a global pandemic, the *only* priority for Ohio Republicans is restricting access to safe, legal abortion.”
In a statement against the measure earlier this month Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin, vice president of government affairs and public advocacy at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said that “in the middle of a pandemic, Republican lawmakers are working yet again to strip Ohioans of their health care and trying to close health centers.”
“Not only is Senate Bill 27 unconstitutional and medically unnecessary, it also adds yet another barrier for patients who are trying to access abortion services — which is the legislature’s real goal,” added Blauvelt-Copelin. “This bill is about politics. It’s about forcing health centers to close. Ohioans deserve better.”
We are deeply disappointed (but ultimately not surprised) that @GovMikeDeWine signed this unconstitutional bill into law. It is just one more transparent attempt to obstruct Ohioans from exercising their constitutionally protected reproductive rights.https://t.co/CgO6Pjd62U
— ACLU of Ohio (@acluohio) December 30, 2020
Additionally, Senate Bill 260 ─ which bans the use of telemedicine for medication abortions ─ is currently sitting on DeWine’s desk.
During a global pandemic, the *only* priority for Ohio Republicans is restricting access to safe, legal abortion. pic.twitter.com/C2qXGfa1hb
— Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio (@PPAOhio) December 31, 2020
Planned Parenthood also noted that “Senate Bill 260 — which bans the use of telemedicine or medication abortions — is currently sitting on DeWine’s desk.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy