Last week the Ohio legislature succeeded in doing something it’s attempted for years: it effectively banned abortion with the passage of the so-called “Heartbeat” Bill.
After its last attempt late last year during the post-election “lame duck” session, Governor Kasich vetoed the bill. The hypocritical, phony “moderate” claimed he did so because signing it would cost Ohio’s taxpayers a lot of money when it was challenged in court. But he knew the legislature would pass it again, and incoming governor DeWine had already publicly promised to sign it. He did so on Thursday April 11, the day after its passage. It’s now — surprise!—facing a legal challenge that Ohio’s taxpayers will have to pony up to defend against.
That means the bill, scheduled to take effect in 90 days, is on hold as it wends its way through challenges, most likely all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. There its advocates and those in a half dozen other states where similar bans have just passed hope Roe v. Wade will be overturned. Then abortion would be virtually illegal in Ohio. (The bill bans abortions at six weeks, before most women know they’re pregnant).
Two days of hearings took place in the Ohio House last week, with hundreds of protesters outside in the lobby chanting “My Body! My Life!” Inside, anti-choice GOP legislators — and let’s face it: there is a hard split between the parties on this issue — exuded sanctimony and false piety, with one insisting the issue wasn’t about religion but those poor little baaaabieeees, and another reading from the Bible. Nope, not about religion, not at all!
Whatever your personal feelings are about abortion — and those should only dictate what you, not others, do — banning abortion in Ohio has an economic impact, and will have a greater one if the ban stands.
Whether or not it does, the spectacle in the Ohio legislature, with heartless, misogynist ghouls like Candice Keller, who runs a so-called “crisis pregnancy center” in her non-legislative life, exuding holier-than-thou smugness, sends a powerful message: it tells talented, educated young (and older) people that Ohio is hostile, repressive territory. It warns entrepreneurial, forward-thinking businesses they’re not wanted here. It tars the state with the image of being a backward, discriminatory place where the religion and “morals” of a few are allowed to dictate the lives of everyone.
Well, almost everyone. Because if Roe v. Wade is overturned (and pro-choicers, please don’t keep insisting “It will never happen”) and allows states the ability to make their own laws on abortion, affluent women will just go New York or Chicago to have abortions. Poor women, working women with children, minimum wage earners — the ones least able to afford another child (and most women seeking abortion already have at least one child) — will be trapped.
And some will die, making a mockery of any Republican claim to want to address Ohio’s already dismal maternal and infant death rates. With only limited exceptions for a mother’s health and penalties for doctors performing abortions, doctors would be extremely reluctant to find an abortion medically necessary until perhaps it’s too late. This isn’t speculative; it has already happened elsewhere. The ban would also lead to self-abortion attempts: more deaths. This is something that no doubt some anti-choicers are looking forward to: those “bad” women got what they deserve!
But many women would end up having children they can’t afford. Financial stress is one of the reasons women have abortions, and the legislature last week turned down a host of amendments to help women be able to raise children, things such as paid maternity leave and an expanded child care credit. Having a child is one of the main drivers of family poverty, and many women and children would be plunged into poverty — or deeper poverty. Without supports for mothers, all of DeWine’s boasting about economic development programs is mere hot air.
Poverty is a driver of many of the issues Ohio is struggling with. More poverty means a bigger drain on social services. It means, most likely, a worsening opioid crisis. That means more children in the foster care system. It means more pressure on public schools, which are already underfunded, but will require even more support services. It means more hopelessness and violence. And all of that makes Ohio an even less attractive place for businesses to locate.
One good thing did come out of last week: the actions of the Republican side of the House spurred some of its Democratic members to form the Black Maternal Health Caucus to address the poor outcomes for black mothers and babies in Ohio.
One final thing should be mentioned since this bill specifically strips personhood and autonomy from women. Of the 40 Democrats in the state House, 19 are women. Of the 59 Republicans? Seven. One might easily surmise that Republicans don’t have a problem with abortion as much as they have a problem with women.