Their proposal would apply only to elective abortions in Ohio, according to a legal analysis of the bill by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission.
As written, the bill would require a physician to obtain informed consent from a patient at least 24 hours before an abortion procedure and only after meeting with the patient (in person or via telephone or virtual meeting) to discuss who would perform or induce the abortion; what method would be used; the “long-term medical risks associated” with the procedure; the medical risks associated with carrying the pregnancy to term; and the alternatives to abortion, like adoption and parenting.
The bill defines complications as “any adverse physical or psychological condition arising from an abortion,” which could range from blood clots to mental-health effects.
The bill does not, however, specify exactly what information needs to be provided, Williams said.
“There’s no requirement of what information is actually provided, nor the particular type of material that needs to be provided, just that the information is given,” said Williams.
Ohio already has a law on the books requiring a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, though that law was paused following 2023’s statewide passage of an abortion-rights amendment, which codified a person’s right to make their own decisions around reproduction, including abortion.
That amendment forbids the state from interfering in those decisions unless it can demonstrate “that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care,” which Williams and Odioso argued is the central idea behind H.B. 347.
Odioso told the committee last week that the bill, at its core, “is about respecting a woman’s right to choose, respecting her right to know, and respecting her right to receive the same medical standards of informed consent offered to any other patient.”
State Rep. Anita Somani, D-Dublin, an OB-GYN, questioned why the state should legally require 24 hour waiting periods for abortions when there are no requirements of similar kinds for other medical procedures. She further questioned why the state would pass a 24-hour waiting period bill when its existing law is under judicial review.
In response, Williams said it should be the legislature’s prerogative to modify the state’s policies on abortion that can still be operable under Ohio’s new abortion rights amendment.
The bill, if it moves forward in the House Health Committee, will receive proponent and opponent testimony before it leaves the committee.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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