{"id":34948,"date":"2025-09-24T16:21:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=34948"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:22:16","slug":"ohio-abortion-regulations-appeal-attorneys-for-the-state-and-womens-health-clinics-make-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/ohio-abortion-regulations-appeal-attorneys-for-the-state-and-womens-health-clinics-make-arguments\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio abortion regulations appeal: Attorneys for the state and women’s health clinics make arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Susan Tebben, originally published September 18, 2025, Ohio Capital Journal<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appeal debates other provisions contained in the 2019 law that established Ohio\u2019s six-week abortion ban<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorneys representing the state of Ohio and women\u2019s health clinics made oral arguments Tuesday over whether other provisions in the state\u2019s 2019 six-week abortion ban law can be maintained, even though the ban itself has been struck down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During oral arguments in front of three judges from the First District Court of Appeals, both the state and attorneys for the reproductive health clinics made it clear that the six-week abortion ban itself was not up for debate, and was settled when a trial court\u00a0struck down the ban in October of last year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial court\u2019s decision came after 57% of Ohio voters approved a reproductive rights amendment to the Ohio Constitution in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 law had been blocked by courts from the time it was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine until the U.S. Supreme Court struck down nationwide abortion rights in 2022. When the June Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade came down, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost moved quickly to implement the state\u2019s six-week ban, which included no exceptions for rape or incest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ban was in place for several months before being held up by an Ohio court injunction. As that court case was proceeding, voters passed the new amendment, after which the trial court concluded the law had been rendered unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the state is not fighting the rejection of the six-week ban, the reason the state Attorney General\u2019s office appealed the case was to fight for the other provisions in Senate Bill 23, the state law under which the six-week abortion ban was enacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yost\u2019s team argues provisions such as record-keeping for abortions could stand on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state has consistently argued that the other provisions can stand under a \u201cseverability\u201d clause of the law, which is a legal way of allowing certain parts of laws to stay in place even if another part of the law has been removed or successfully challenged in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s basically two issues (in the appeal),\u201d Deputy Solicitor General Stephen Carney told the district court on Tuesday. \u201cWhat did the legislature intend and, separately, are (the provisions) capable to function by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carney argued the language of the state law clearly states if anything in the law is declared invalid, \u201cit shall not affect any other sections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specific language states that the law\u2019s provisions are \u201cseverable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn particular, it is the intent of the General Assembly that any invalidity or potential invalidity of a provision of (the law) is not to impair the immediate and continuing enforceability of the remaining provisions,\u201d according to the Ohio Revised Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state also pointed to previous record-keeping regarding abortion that existed in state law before the Dobbs decision and the six-week abortion ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Cassie Mitchell, of the law firm WilmerHale, represented Preterm-Cleveland, Planned Parenthoods in Southwest and Greater Ohio, Women\u2019s Med Group Professional Corporation, and Northeast Ohio Women\u2019s Center, along with an individual physician in the case, in partnership with the ACLU of Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell argued that provisions that were included in Senate Bill 23 along with the six-week ban should also fall because they are directly connected to enforcement of the ban itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laying out the provisions at dispute in the case, Mitchell said four \u201cjust clarify the scope of the ban,\u201d including definitions of the law, the fact that the ban didn\u2019t apply to ectopic pregnancies, and that a pregnant individual wouldn\u2019t be held liable, among other provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose don\u2019t just stand on their own; they have no meaning without the rest of the ban in place,\u201d Mitchell told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another four provisions specify punishments for violating the six-week ban, including felony charges and license revocation for medical professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cS.B. 23 created a new punishment for failing to check for cardiac activity that was the same, very severe punishment for actually performing an abortion after the detection of cardiac activity,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt was clearly intended to prevent any runarounds of the six-week ban \u2026 and it didn\u2019t exist prior to S.B. 23.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the state, Carney said a ruling by the appeals court saying the entire law is struck down not only would be \u201cdoing something radical that no one has ever done before,\u201d but would also have consequences in other cases on completely different topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re threatening how courts review environmental laws or anything else, and then we\u2019re going to feel obliged to appeal that because we\u2019re here because of the effect on all state laws,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deputy solicitor general went on to say the rejection of the six-week abortion ban section of the law \u201cdid not create a super abortion exception\u201d that applies to all provisions of all Ohio laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll we\u2019re asking is that you follow the rule of law, the normal rules of the road that every plaintiff has to meet, versus creating this radical roadmap for everyone to strike down a lot of state laws,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On behalf of women\u2019s clinics, Mitchell said the court could allow closure in the case by giving its ruling as the final say, rather than sending the case back to the previous court to re-litigate a case that has already been down that road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis court can resolve this now, it can give plaintiffs and their patients the certainty they need as to what the requirements of Ohio law are, and we can just all move on,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Tebben is a reporter at Ohio Capital Journal and an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Susan Tebben, originally published September 18, 2025, Ohio Capital Journal The appeal debates other provisions contained in the 2019 law that established Ohio\u2019s six-week abortion ban Attorneys representing the state of Ohio and women\u2019s health clinics made oral arguments Tuesday over whether other provisions in the state\u2019s 2019 six-week abortion ban law can be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOhio abortion regulations appeal: Attorneys for the state and women's health clinics make arguments - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/ohio-abortion-regulations-appeal-attorneys-for-the-state-and-womens-health-clinics-make-arguments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ohio abortion regulations appeal: Attorneys for the state and women's health clinics make arguments - 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