Ohio House poised to pass 'born alive' bill

Dec. 8—COLUMBUS — An Ohio House committee has set the stage for a full-chamber vote Wednesday on a bill that could subject physicians to felony manslaughter prosecution if they fail to take all steps to preserve the health of an infant born alive during an abortion.

Senate Bill 157 passed the House Families, Aging and Human Services Committee by a vote of 9-4 strictly with Republican "yes" votes on Tuesday.

The bill would also make it more difficult for surgical abortion clinics in Ohio to obtain variances from the mandate that they have written agreements in place with local hospitals to transfer patients in emergencies.

Two Ohio clinics — Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region's Mount Auburn Health Center in Cincinnati and the Women's Med Center in Dayton — are operating on variances approved by the Department of Health based on deals with individual physicians to perform the emergency role.

The so-called Born Alive Infant Protection Act is sponsored by the chamber's two physicians, Sens. Terry Johnson (R., McDermott) and Stephen Huffman (R., Tipp City). It would prohibit physicians from entering into agreements with clinics if they are employed by or contracted with a medical school affiliated with a state university.

The two clinics operating under such variances would have to reapply six months after the law's effective date.

The change would not affect Toledo's sole abortion clinic, Capital Care, which ceased performing surgical procedures two years ago to focus on medication-induced abortions after its own legal fights over emergency transfer agreements.

Felony manslaughter is a first-degree felony carrying up to 11 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. The woman patient could also bring a civil lawsuit against the doctor.

Critics of the bill have argued that the "born alive" provisions are unnecessary given that doctors are already legally and ethically bound to render assistance to any patient, including a live infant removed from the uterus during an abortion. They worry more now about the variance provision added to the bill shortly before the Senate approved it in late October.

Rep. Allison Russo (D., Upper Arlington) tried unsuccessfully to have the variance language removed before the bill was reported out of committee, noting it targets the two facilities in southwest Ohio.

"This language in the bill effectively bans and removes abortion access for that portion of the state because of the broad language that was included...," she said. "We want to make sure that all women get access to the best care possible."

Democrats also tried without success to remove a provision that could subject health-care providers to possible prosecution of a third-degree felony for failing to file mandated reports associated with "born alive" incidents. A third-degree felony can carry three years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

No one on the committee spoke in favor of the bill before its approval.

"For decades the pro-abortion industry has hidden behind the cloak of medical terminology in an attempt to dehumanize an unborn child," Mr. Huffman told the committee last month. "Let's be perfectly clear here — a baby human being born alive can no longer be termed a 'tissue mass' or even a fetus. It is an infant, and it must by any standard of human decency be treated as such."

All of this occurs against the backdrop of last week's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a Mississippi abortion case that could overturn the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision and punt decisions affecting abortion back to states.

While current Ohio law prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, it has already approved another law that would shorten that to about six weeks, the point at which a fetal heartbeat is detectable. That law has been placed on hold by the courts.

The General Assembly also has before it a so-called "trigger" bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions should Roe vs. Wade be overturned.

First Published December 7, 2021, 3:43pm