Common Pleas Judge Alison Hatheway in Hamilton County, Ohio, issued a preliminary injunction on August 29th against two state laws imposing common-sense abortion pill restrictions.
In her ruling, Hatheway extended a previous injunction that had halted a state law banning abortion pill distribution via telemedicine and blocked a law that had prohibited non-physicians — like midwives, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants — from prescribing the abortion pill.
Hatheway referenced the state’s 2023 amendment vote that enshrined abortion as a constitutional “right,” saying “the status quo shifted drastically” when the amendment went into effect in December.
“The amendment grants sweeping protections ensuring reproductive autonomy for patients in Ohio,” she wrote in her ruling. “Plaintiffs have provided substantial evidence to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the Bans at issue here violate these newly enshrined rights in a manner that is not the least restrictive, and actually causes harm to Plaintiffs’ patients.”
Though in its lawsuit, the abortion industry alleged that the abortion pill restrictions caused “harm,” these restrictions were put in place to protect women. Allowing abortion pill distribution via telemedicine often utilizes a “no-test” protocol and does not verify gestational age or rule out ectopic pregnancy, which can cause complications for the woman taking the abortion pill. The state’s law prohibiting non-physicians from prescribing the abortion pill was also meant to protect women by ensuring that they received proper medical care when undergoing a chemical abortion; this is important because the abortion pill is considered four times more dangerous than a surgical abortion, and studies have shown that six percent of women taking the pill required emergency care afterward.
“ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the abortion lobby have made it clear: they are after every common-sense law which protects mothers and babies in our state,” said Center for Christian Virtue Senior Fellow for Strategic Initiatives Peter Range. “This most recent ruling is just another example of how they want abortion on demand, without any restrictions whatsoever. This puts mothers, and of course babies, at risk in the state of Ohio. We need to return to common sense laws which protect women and protect the preborn in Ohio.”
