Ohio State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery) this week introduced a bill to protect preborn human life from abortion.
Titled The Personhood Act, Click’s legislation stipulates that the state “shall recognize the personhood, and protect the constitutional rights, of all unborn human individuals from the moment of conception.” The measure would not prohibit abortion in any case where doing so would “endanger the life of a mother.”
“I would love to see us go to that place where we protect that person – [that] we respect and value life from the moment of conception,” Click told the press regarding his bill. “So I would love to see there be no abortions with the exceptions of a time when there’s a medical emergency; I would certainly want to save the life of the mother.”
Numerous states have anti-abortion laws that can now be enforced since, on June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. The Arizona state judiciary has blocked that state’s law from going into effect until judges rule on the matter. Ohio itself currently prohibits abortions after the first six weeks of a pregnancy, when a heartbeat is detectable, though Democratic prosecutors in Columbus and Cuyahoga County have pledged not to prosecute illegal abortions.
The Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) castigated Republican lawmakers for offering the Click bill and underscored Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) opposition to abortion and the likelihood that he will sign the legislation if it reaches his desk. DeWine is currently running for re-election against pro-abortion former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley (D).
“Mike DeWine is the most anti-choice governor in the country, and if he’s re-elected it’s all but assured he will sign this extreme bill into law,” ODP spokesman Matt Keyes said on Tuesday. “He’s promised to ‘go as far as we can’ to restrict reproductive rights and should he win in November, he’s sure to keep that promise. This bill is a good reminder of what’s at stake this election and just how far Republicans will go to punish women, from ripping away abortion rights to banning [in-vitro fertilization] and coming for birth control in our state. Nothing is off the table for these radical Republicans.”
Abortion advocates in the Buckeye State have pounced in response to an assertion that a 10-year-old girl and alleged rape victim recently traveled out of Ohio to obtain an abortion in Indiana. But skeptics have noted that those who have have made this claim, including President Joe Biden, have failed to corroborate it with any evidence beyond the statements made by one abortion doctor.
Click has seven co-sponsors for his legislation, thus far all Republicans.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
