Ohio lawmakers unveil bill that makes abortion murder

by Rachel Frazin - 11/15/19 9:58 AM ET

Two Republican Ohio state lawmakers are reportedly sponsoring a new bill that would outlaw abortion in the state.

State Reps. Ron Hood and Candice Keller are sponsors of House Bill 413, which would count unborn fetuses are people, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing a news release from the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio.

Anyone who performs an abortion would be “subject to already existing murder statutes,” the statement reportedly said.

It is unclear whether the bill has been introduced, according to the Post.

Doctors who perform lifesaving treatments on pregnant women would reportedly be protected if that treatment “unintentionally result[s] in the termination of the pregnancy.”

“Up until this point, legislators have only regulated abortion,” Hood told the Post in a statement. “They have decided which classes of people have a Right to Life by creating exceptions to abortion, which is tantamount to creating exceptions to pre-meditated murder.”

NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland told the newspaper that Keller and Hood had introduced a similar abortion ban in the last legislative session and that it did not pass.

“They want to ban abortion, they want to classify it legally as murder, they want to impose criminal penalties against people who get abortions and people who provide them,” Copeland said. “That’s been the goal of all of the abortion legislation we’ve seen in Ohio. This kind of legislation is revealing the ultimate agenda of our opponents.”

The legislation follows as series of laws restricting abortion that were passed in several states earlier this year. One law from Alabama would have banned nearly all abortions, with exceptions for when the mother’s life is in danger.

A federal court judge halted the Alabama law last month.

Tags Abortion Ohio