Earlier this month, Republican lawmakers introduced House Bill 413 in the Ohio state legislature, which would outlaw abortions in all circumstances, except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.
The bill is 723 pages long and was sponsored by Candice Keller and Ron Hood. It was co-sponsored by 19 lawmakers of the 99-member state assembly, according to Quartz. The legislation reads like something out of a George Orwell novel, taking abortion law to extremes never imagined.
Specifically, page 184 of HB413 reads: “To avoid criminal charges, including murder, for abortion, a physician must “…[attempt to] reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the women’s uterus.” In other words, a physician could be charged with “abortion murder” for saving a woman’s life.
For those who may not know, an ectopic pregnancy occurs when an egg implants itself in a fallopian tube, ovary, or anywhere outside the uterus. Thankfully, this only happens in less than two percent of pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies can be life-threatening medical emergencies.
Actually, ectopic pregnancies are one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the first trimester and account for 4 percent of pregnancy-related deaths. Therapeutic abortion is the only treatment for the condition.
“There is no procedure to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy,” Chris Zahn, vice-president of practice activities at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, told The Guardian. “It is not possible to move an ectopic pregnancy from a fallopian tube, or anywhere else it might have implanted, to the uterus,” he stressed.
CTV News Canada is reporting that Ohio’s legislation is the “most restrictive anti-abortion bill” ever to be introduced in the United States. The legislation defines a fertilized egg as an “unborn child.” Doctors who terminate pregnancies under this legislation could get up to life in prison or even the death penalty.
Oh, and by the way, women, including girls as young as 13 years of age who have an abortion could also face murder charges and prison time. The bill has also added a new crime – “aggravated abortion murder”, is punishable by death, according to the legislation.
This is not the first time Ohio lawmakers have attempted to pass a restrictive anti-abortion bill. Ohio did pass a six-week abortion ban last summer. The “heartbeat bill”, as supporters called it, banned abortion before most women are even aware they are pregnant. Reproductive rights groups immediately sued, and the bill never went into effect. Abortion is legal in all 50 US states.
