Statehouse News Bureau

The Statehouse News Bureau provides educational, comprehensive coverage of legislation, elections, issues and other activities surrounding the Statehouse to Ohio's public radio and television stations.

ACLU Of Ohio Seeks Permanent Block On Controversial Abortion Ban

By Jo Ingles

Published August 20, 2019 at 8:45 PM EDT

The ACLU of Ohio is asking a federal court to permanently block a ban on abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Pro-choice advocates had secured an order to temporarily stop the so called “heartbeat law” from going into effect as planned in July.

Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, says the federal court blocked the ban from going into effect in July. And she says the state hasn’t fought that.

“The state had an opportunity to appeal that ruling but it let the date to file an appeal come and go without doing anything," Levenson says.

So, Levenson says her group is asking the court to permanently block the law, as has happened in some other states. When asked why the Ohio Attorney General’s office didn’t appeal, it replied with a written statement saying: “Our office will defend Ohio’s laws.” Backers of the ban have said they hope it will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.