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Abortion ‘heartbeat bill’ gives Ohio an onerous distinction
TweetOhio Gov. John Kasich is just one signature away from staining the Buckeye State’s image by including it among the likes of Kansas, Texas and Alabama — states with the most restrictive and abhorrent abortion laws in the United States.
Indeed some say House Bill 178 will give Ohio the distinction of having the most prohibitive law on pregnancy termination in the land. It breezed through the hyper-partisan General Assembly a few days ago with a 27-7 vote in the Senate and an earlier 55-44 approval in the House.
HB 178, better known as the “heartbeat bill,” sponsored by state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, will ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, unless the pregnancy threatens the mother’s health or life. His bill does not include exemptions even for victims of rape and incest.
WRONG ON SO MANY FRONTS
On practical, philosophical and fiscal responsibility grounds, the bill fails Ohio’s 11.5 million residents. It most egregiously fails the state’s 5.8 million women and girls.
On practical grounds, the heartbeat bill and about a dozen other abortion-restriction bills and inserts into the state budget this year illustrate a clear example of misplaced and misguided priorities. At a time when Ohio remains stuck in the muck of post-recession economic tumult, this is not the year to be wasting valuable legislative time tinkering with social reforms of any ilk.
The hours, days and weeks spent in Columbus on crafting, debating and enacting abortion initiatives would have been much better spent on crafting, debating and enacting initiatives to rebuild Ohio’s economy and to restore Ohioans’ livelihoods.
On philosophical grounds, the heartbeat bill bulldozes the constitutionally sacred wall of separation between church and state.
As we have argued many times in the past, tens of millions of Americans who do not belong to one of the strains of Christianity, Judaism or Islam that prohibits abortion in varying degrees should not be legally bound by their fellow citizens’ religious beliefs. Our First Amendment rights guarantee us freedom of religion and freedom from religion.
On fiscal responsibility grounds, the heartbeat bill flops as well. Even Ohio Right to Life – the foremost opponent of abortion rights – recognizes as much. The group said it believes it is not wise for Ohio to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars defending it, likely all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. What’s more, all of that money spent on legal defense could wind up being counterproductive. It’s not unreasonable to believe that the heartbeat bill could end up reaffirming more vigorously the principles of Roe vs. Wade first enunciated 38 years ago.
ABORTION RATES ARE FALLING FAST
Of course, it would do us little good to urge Gov. Kasich to use fiscal, philosophical and practical reasoning in refusing to sign the bill. He said over the weekend that he will sign it. In so doing, he will be prolonging the debate and divisions over abortion. Coupled with steep federal cutbacks in aid to Planned Parenthood and similar agencies, the emotional debacle could reverse real progress that has been made in Ohio and elsewhere to lower abortion rates. In Ohio, for example, the number of abortions has declined 22 percent in the last decade, to 28,721 in 2009, according to the state Department of Health.
Let’s face it. Few, if any, of us are gung-ho advocates of abortion. Instead of wasting time, money and civil liberties on heartbeat bills and other anger-inducing legislation, we’d hope the Ohio General Assembly and other state legislatures would find ways to bridge gaps between pro-life and pro-choice camps, find areas of common ground, move on to more pressing issues and quit stomping all over women’s constitutional rights.
Comments
Love how they say religion is the basis for this abortion law. Religion is also the basis for outlawing murder and theft. The Declaration said it best, "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
"On philosophical grounds, the heartbeat bill bulldozes the constitutionally sacred wall of separation between church and state."
Killing the unborn is a right . How dare the Governor do this ?
First and foremost, I believe the Vindicator is incorrect in stating the Senate passed the bill 27-7. The bill, according to news reports and the Ohio Senate website, has not been passed the Ohio Senate yet at all: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/vo...
Secondly, I am sick of people defending abortion. For years the pro-choice movement ruled the debate and had a somewhat significant advantage in the polls. However, the latest of polls show a virtual deadlock between Americans who identify themselves as pro-choice and pro-life. That makes me believe that the pro-life movement is winning!
It is about time we protect the lives of the unborn. Killing the unborn is wrong on so many levels!
This editorial is wrong in so many ways as to be laughable. Just because a law also shares a basis with some religious beliefs does not make it unconstitutional. As Woody aptly points out, murder and theft are illegal and violate God's Law.
The "tissue mass" inside of a female human being will develop into another human being; not a puppy, a frog, or any other living being. Genetics teaches us this. The time for a woman's choice is at conception. Killing the unborn human is to abhorred!
I agree with all of you. I do not believe in abortion and I don't believe it should be legal. When things are wrong people should step up and say they are wrong.
I am a little curious as to why I don't see any outrage from any of you about your mentor rupert murdoch being exposed for what I said he is for the past two years. Are you going to keep defending what he has done to this country and how he does it or are you going to finally say, cambridge you were right and I was wrong? Like I said, if it's wrong you need to step up and say it's wrong.
No one is FOR abortion. I abhor the idea. No one wants people to get an abortion. But, what I am for is ensuring that women have the right to choose, to decide for themselves, free of anyone else's religious objections, what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Otherwise, you are treating these women as property.
This is a Women's issue. Not a Man's issue. It should NOT be decided by Men. Only Women.
Thank you Vindy for a well-reasoned editorial on this topic. The rate is falling.
The government has no business with this issue.
This country is in trouble... allowing mothers to kill their babies- both inside and now outside of the womb.
I'm not totally convinced on Kasich, but this is a good decision on his part I believe.
The last thing this country needs is more kids born to moronic parents. Abortion is a good thing, it controls the population. For eveyone of you on the high and might kick that this is killing a baby, get over it. Look at my Drivers License, it has my birth date, not my conception date. You are alive at birth, the state already says so.
And, how the Catholic church can be against abortion but for their priest molesting boys is beyond me. Right there is reason enough to be pro-choice!
Well Jason, why didn't your mother abort you ?
It's funny how all the right-wing-nuts all want less government EXCEPT where it comes to questions of legislating morality for everyone else but themselves.
Well Stan, because my parents had jobs. They paid there bills. They weren't on welfare living off other people tax dollars.
I don't mean population control in general, I just mean we don't need anymore kids on the welfare system.
And taking it a step further, what if a woman just does not want to have a baby. What if she is on birth control, and she gets pregnant. WHo are any of us to force her to go through a pregnancy?
When it come to population control there is no distinction . Those on welfare who vote also support abortion as they are liberals . When government decides to euthanize more segments the population you will just become a statistic .
This is inherently a religious issue. If it were not, then there would be no issue with a medical procedure. Religion tells you that it is wrong. Religion has started the debate of when a soul enters a fetus, when it is considered a person, etc. Medically that can not be proven. While there are many sides to this issue, this article hits the nail on the head when it says that this state should be worrying about a lot more than social issues. This is nothing more than a political move by Kasich to raise his approval ratings.
"This is inherently a religious issue. If it were not, then there would be no issue with a medical procedure. "
Dr. Kavorkian sez that you are right !
Euthanasia of the elderly will be seriously looked at by our government . The door has been opened by allowing the euthanization of the unborn . So if you escaped being killed in the fetus your welcome amongst society may run out at whatever age they determine . Just as the unborn you will have no control .
Actually, it's House Bill 125. You might want to get your facts straight before you start shooting your mouth off. You know, responsible journalism... ;-)
Shame on Joe Schiavoni, Capri Cafaro, Bob Hagan and Ron Gerberry for their consistent radical pro-abortion voting records!
Our valley will not recover from its many hardships until our leaders respect the lives of the most innocent and vunerable members of society.
CSG, it's not pro-abortion. It's pro civil rights.
Keep your laws off my body, etc.
"It's funny how all the right-wing-nuts all want less government EXCEPT where it comes to questions of legislating morality for everyone else but themselves."
YES
Roe v Wade was decided by a REPUBLICAN dominated Supreme Court.
Since it was decided, we have had REPUBLICAN PRESIDENCIES in the form of: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush (the elder) and the affirmative action choice of the USSC. They served a total of 28 years and nominated most of the Supreme Court Justices in the years since 1973.
Access to abortion still exists!
The lesson is that government is ill-suited to regulate personal behavior when people decide they do not want government to do so. This is a reflection of "...consent of the governed...." as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
In our history we have tried Prohibition and had to repeal it. We are losing a long standing war on drugs.
The moralists had better come to the realization that the world is a complex grey--not absolute black and white--in matters of morality.
"The moralists had better come to the realization that the world is a complex grey--not absolute black and white--in matters of morality."
Nothing complex here . You can either kill a baby or let it live . Social Security may be balanced by killing the same seniors whose funds were looted . It is the liberal way . . .. The mother who aborted her children may suddenly be the one on the chopping block . . ..
It is not a baby until it is born. Until it is born it is a fetus. My drivers license has my birth date, not my conception date.
This should really be a very simple issue, but for what ever reason it is not. The simple fact is the government should not have the right to tell a woman whether or not she can have an abortion. That is as simple as it can be and why so many people don't see it is just amazing.
Funny how some of the folks supporting the limitations of abortion are pro-death penalty.,
I know Stan, for one, commented on another article where he would see innocent people die of famine rather than send aid.
You can't take the moral high ground when you're a hypocrite.
TB :
"Funny how some of the folks supporting the limitations of abortion are pro-death penalty., "
You choose to kill the most innocent ) THE UNBORN ) and I choose to allow the most guilty ( THE MURDERERS ) to be executed . Until God smites them dead this will have to do .
Perhaps you should contact the families of our soldiers who were killed in Somalia if they wish to contribute to feed the starving there . . . ..
I don't know if any one beat me to the punch, but this article is completely incorrect. The Ohio senate recently approved and Ohio governor Kasich subsequently signed House Bill 78, not 178, and it was not proposed by Lynn Wachtman. The bill that the writer was referring to, the so called heartbeat bill, is known as House Bill 125 and still awaits the approval of the senate. The bill that was just signed into law bans abortion after TWENTY weeks of Gestation if the fetus is determined by a doctor or other medical professional to be capable of surviving outside the woom, the common standard for what is know as "viability.". This heartbeat bill requires some fine tuning to say the least. A fetal heartbeat is almost always detectable after only six weeks of gestation, only two weeks after missing a cycle. That is a dangerously narrow window considering the fact that there are NO exceptions after the six week limit. No concessions are made for rape or incest victims, and no exception is made if the pregnancy threatens to take the life of the mother. Regardless of your stance on abortion, you should oppose this bill. It is flat out dangerous. If they pass this bill, the Ohio Senate will make Ohio the most dangerous place in the United States for a pregnant woman. Please drop your blind partisanship, Democrats and Republicans, this bill could endanger women that you love. Even if it were permissible under the constitution or the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, this bill is not a good thing in any sense of the word. Please come to your senses, but be advised. The heartbeat bill is not scheduled to even be considered by the Ohio Senate until at least September 20th. We are now in the middle of the General Assembly's summer recess.
Stan sits in judgment everyone...behold the Rapture is near!
Perhaps you should get off your high horse brother and realize what a hypocrite you are.