Upholding Reproductive Rights in Ohio & Beyond

Marlaina A. Leppert-Miller

ALMOST A YEAR and a half after the Ohio citizens’ victory passing an amendment to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution, and five months after the presidential election, the abortion issue is no longer front and center for most Ohioans.

Anti-choice forces, however, have not stopped looking for ways to strip away these rights. And unfortunately, some of our neighbors have not fared as well. Women in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia now live under draconian laws restricting abortion except in very limited circumstances.

So where are we now? And what can we do to continue fighting for reproductive freedom?

When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, a six-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest went into effect for several months across Ohio until it was temporarily blocked by a Hamilton County judge.

Over the next year, Ohioans fought against the “dirty tricks” of the Republican-dominated state legislature and Ohio secretary of state and ultimately won a victory to reclaim basic rights for women.(1) A citizen-led initiative on the November 2023 ballot resulted in the passage of an amendment titled “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.”

Ohio’s Reproductive Freedom Amendment provides a state constitutional “right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion” until fetal viability without state interference or penalty.(2)

Continuing Attacks

Even with the Reproductive Freedom Amendment in place, reproductive rights in Ohio face ongoing attacks. Anti-abortion activists and many Republican legislators and other government officials are now attempting to undermine the amendment, which was passed by 57% of Ohio’s voters. One of the first challenges came from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Ohio’s six-week abortion ban, known as the Heartbeat Law, was finally overturned in October 2024 by Hamilton County Judge Christian A. Jenkins, who had initially “stopped enforcement of the law when the case entered his courtroom in the fall of 2022 several months after the Dobbs decision.”(3)

During the case, and after the passage of the amendment, state AG Yost insisted that the law should not be thrown out entirely, contradicting his own earlier analysis of the invalidating effects of the amendment on the Heartbeat Law. He now argued that some of the law’s “provisions didn’t conflict with the amendment passed by voters and should be kept, such as mandatory waiting periods and multiple appointments required for abortion care.”(4)

Judge Jenkins disagreed, instead asserting, “The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion.” Additionally, “unlike the Ohio Attorney General, this court will uphold the Ohio Constitution’s protection of abortion rights,” he wrote in his decision. “The will of the people of Ohio will be given effect.”(5)

Yost nevertheless continues to spend taxpayer money on lawsuits and has filed an appeal in the 1st District Court of Appeals, which oversees Hamilton County. So, we wait for the next chapter in this litigation.

Additional threats to reproductive rights are looming as anti-abortion activists like Austin Beigel, president of End Abortion Ohio, look for new ways to criminalize abortion and nullify the existing amendment.

“We do this by applying the word of God to this issue and our government” (despite America’s long-held separation of church and state) and “borrowing from a lot of [the] language” of the 14th Amendment to make the legal arguments, Beigel asserts in front of an audience at the East River Church in Batavia, Ohio.(6)

Beigel is working with Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly to introduce what he calls the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act. The proposed bill claims that “human life begins at conception,” he says. “Therefore, all the protections that are offered to other people under the state law are also offered to the pre-born.”(7)

He and other advocates for this legislation are trying to push a religious extremist narrative that everything from a fertilized egg onwards should be covered by the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution. Based on this reasoning, Ohio’s constitution would then be in violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Although most legal experts criticize this argument, these efforts may pose real dangers in the future. “Beigel knows there will be a legal challenge, but … by continuing to introduce [such legislation], it may get passed further down the line, he argue[s].”(8)

We have witnessed the far-right capture of some of America’s courts as they seek to enact a radical social agenda, with the U.S. Supreme Court stripping women of fundamental rights in their Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are “unborn children” with legal personhood in that state.

With a growing number of ultra-right judges willing to reverse legal and democratic progress, Beigel’s strategy requires us to be vigilant and proactive and not fool ourselves that Ohioans’ reproductive rights are permanently secure under the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.

Abortion Bans in Neighboring States

We have only to look across our border at the neighboring states of Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia with near-total abortion bans to see what would be in store for us if we become too complacent with our gains.

Women in these states do not have the tool of fighting back through a citizen-initiated ballot measure and must instead rely on their legislatures or courts, which have thoroughly failed them so far.

Women in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia now lack autonomy over their own bodies, even though a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own reproductive functions shapes her entire future in fundamental ways — in her personal, professional and family life.

Pregnant individuals in these states are put at greater risk for serious health issues, and even death, under the current restrictions and criminal penalties to healthcare providers.

The restrictions make it very difficult to retain and recruit doctors and other professionals in the field of reproductive health and beyond.

“Nearly 60 percent of medical students stated that they would not pursue residency training in states with abortion restrictions, according to a national survey by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”(9) The risks to doctors and their patients are just too great, and medical residents receiving training in states with abortion bans will “receive inadequate instruction in important life-saving techniques, which will further harm women.”(10)

This is the message from hundreds of members of Kentucky Physicians for Reproductive Freedom in an open letter demanding the repeal of their state’s abortion ban.

Their indignation is striking and justified: “A government that takes away the freedom of women and pregnant persons to access critical medical care and threatens physicians with criminal penalties for upholding their oath is un-American.”(11)

In addition to the deterioration of the healthcare system, there are other economic and social consequences to such abortion bans. Forced pregnancies can impact child development and lead to an increased likelihood of poverty as women, especially lower-income earners, struggle with the financial, physical and emotional requirements of childrearing and childcare.

Young women of childbearing years who are contemplating higher education or a career might think twice before staying in or moving to a state with such restrictions on their freedom.

Even with the bans, women in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia are still desperately seeking abortion care. Those with time and means are crossing the border into Ohio to receive in-person care. Abortions in Ohio for out-of-state residents more than doubled in 2023, according to a report by the Ohio Department of Health.(12)

Many others are turning to self-managed abortions outside the medical care setting. Access to pills for medication abortions, also known as Plan C, is still available by mail through providers outside these and other states with abortion bans.(13)

Taken together, mifepristone and misoprostol are highly effective for ending pregnancy up to eleven weeks with low risk of complications, and many patients are assessed through telehealth visits prior to being prescribed the pills. However, there is a battle over continued access to this method of abortion care from outside providers.

Earlier this year a grand jury in Louisiana, where there is also an abortion ban, criminally charged a New York doctor who had allegedly prescribed abortion pills to a Louisiana patient. New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul has refused to sign an extradition request to send the doctor to Louisiana,(14) but the case is an example of the lengths to which anti-choice forces will go to further restrict access to safe reproductive care.

Moreover, there are rare cases when complications do arise from medication abortions, and patients’ lives and health are now at greater risk due to the culture of fear leading some not to seek or receive timely medical intervention as things go terribly wrong.

Continuing Fight for Our Rights

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, there was nationwide outrage and a wave of activism and donations to pro-choice organizations. These have been drying up lately.

The 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision itself not only took away a fundamental American right, but also severely divided our efforts to protect reproductive healthcare by forcing the abortion issue back to the individual states. And since then, the MAGA movement and the second Trump administration have bewildered and traumatized a large portion of the U.S. population with an assault on our democratic institutions and values.

In the chaos, it is understandable that we momentarily lose direction. However, it is more important than ever that we each focus on an issue or two of importance and put our efforts toward them. Some of us will choose abortion rights as one of those issues.

So how do we continue to fight to uphold reproductive rights in Ohio and beyond? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Stay informed and engaged through Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and the ACLU of Ohio. These organizations provide updates about reproductive health issues and legislation and offer opportunities for volunteer work and advocacy. They also accept donations for the work they do to protect our rights.

2) Donate to an abortion fund in Ohio or our neighboring states from which women must travel to obtain abortion care.

3) Show up to protest and participate in advocacy work.

4) Volunteer through Ohio Women’s Alliance or other such organizations to provide rides and other practical support to people seeking abortion care.

5) Call/email your state and federal elected officials and urge them to act to protect abortion rights and access. Contact Ohio state legislators and demand that they NOT support the introduction of the extremist Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act!!

Notes

1. Leppert-Wahl, Marlaina A. “Reclaiming 50 Years of Reproductive Rights: Ohio’s Citizen-Led Victory.” Against the Current, No. 229. March/April 2024. https://againstthecurrent.org/atc229/ohios-citizen-led-reproductive-rights-victory/.
   back to text
2. Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 22. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-constitution/section-1.22.
   back to text
3. Tebben, Susan. “Ohio’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Overturned by Hamilton County Judge.” Ohio Capital Journal. October 24, 2024. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/10/24/ohios-six-week-abortion-ban-overturned-by-hamilton-county-judge/.
   back to text
4. Tebben, Susan. “Ohio Attorney General Appeals Decision That Struck Down State’s Six-Week Abortion Ban.” Ohio Capital Journal. November 26, 2024. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/briefs/ohio-attorney-general-appeals-decision-that-struck-down-states-six-week-abortion-ban/#:~:text=During%20the%20case%2C%20after%20the,appointments%20required%20for%20abortion%20care.
   back to text
5. Tebben, Susan. November 2024.
   back to text
6. Beigel, Austin. “Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act: Everything You Need to Know.” Presentation. East River Church. February 7, 2025. Batavia, OH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhxKk0ZN_04.
   back to text
7. Trau, Morgan. “This Bill Likely Isn’t Conceivable in GOP-Controlled Legislature.” ABC News 5 Cleveland. February 7, 2025. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/this-bill-likely-isnt-conceivable-in-the-gop-controlled-legislature.
   back to text
8. Trau, Morgan. 2025.
   back to text
9. Dominguez, Emilia. “Citing Devastating Impacts on patients, Kentucky Doctors Unite against State Abortion Bans.” Ms. Magazine. March 13, 2024. https://msmagazine.com/2024/03/13/kentucky-abortion-doctors-healthcare-bans/.
   back to text
10. Dominguez, Emilia. 2024.
    back to text
11. Dominguez, Emilia. 2024.
    back to text
12. Ohio Department of Health. Induced Abortions in Ohio 2023 Report. 2023. Table 2, p.13. https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/80c4cb1e-690d-4685-b15b-11a2ed5b7cc5/VS-AbortionReport2023.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_79GCH8013HMOA06A2E16IV2082-80c4cb1e-690d-4685-b15b-11a2ed5b7cc5-p991AES.
    back to text
13. Unlike Plan C, which induces abortion, Plan B is an emergency contraceptive pill containing levonorgestrel, which prevents pregnancy from occurring when taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. This “morning after” pill is still available over the counter without a presecription or an ID in all 50 states.
    back to text
14. Cline, Sara. “New York Shields Abortion Pill Prescribers after a Doctor Was Indicted in Louisiana.” U.S. News & World Report. February 3, 2025. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-york/articles/2025-02-03/new-york-shields-abortion-pill-prescribers-after-a-doctor-was-indicted-in-louisiana.
    back to text

May-June 2025, ATC 236