Judge blocks Ohio abortion ban for 14 days; Kettering clinic to continue seeing patients

A Hamilton County Common Pleas court ruling has temporarily blocked Ohio’s six week abortion ban for the next 14 days, until Sept. 28.

This mean abortions after six weeks can continue in Ohio for now.

Since Ohio’s ban on abortions, which is after a fetal heartbeat is detected, Women’s Med Center in Kettering has had to send abortion patients to its sister clinic in Indianapolis.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Women’s Health Center in Kettering to end abortion procedures; Clinic to close in October

Women’s Med Center originally said it would stop abortions Friday Sept 16., but with the new ruling will be able to continue seeing patients again starting as early as Friday, according to a spokesperson.

For the first week the clinic will be limiting the surgeries to pregnancies’ 14 weeks and under, according to the spokesperson.

“We will be expanding our services upwards in gestation as we ramp up our medical facility,” the spokesperson said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley issued a statement Wednesday after the ruling:

“This is a victory, albeit a temporary one, for Ohio women. Ohio women won’t be safe until we have a pro-choice governor who doesn’t seek to impose extreme views like government mandates against private health care decisions. Cheryl Stephens and I won’t stop until this fundamental right is restored to Ohio women for good.”

The temporary restraining order was filed by American Civil Liberties Union Ohio. ACLU has issue the following statement:

“We’re grateful that, for now, Ohioans can once again widely access abortion care in their own state. But this is just the first step. We have already seen the devastating impact Senate Bill 23 has had on people seeking abortions in Ohio. State lawmakers will stop at nothing to try again to permanently restrict our reproductive rights; their cruelty knows no bounds. We remain intensely committed to defending against any and all attempts to limit Ohioans’ constitutional right to access the full range of reproductive health care in their home state.”

Pro-life organization Ohio Right to Life issued a statement on the ruling:

“By forum shopping, abortion activists temporarily got what they wanted which is the ability to abort children with a beating heart. Nowhere in the Ohio Constitution or anywhere in the Ohio Revised Code will any Ohioan find supporting evidence that Ohio’s current heartbeat law is anything other than good law which saves lives. We are more than confident that the heartbeat law will go back into effect relatively soon. Further, we can assure pro-life Ohio that in the near future Ohio will become abortion free, regardless of what this local judge ruled today. We will prevail.”

News Center 7 has reached out to Gov. Mike DeWine for a comment on the ruling.

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