Oh, Ohio

[Content Note: Hostility to consent.]

In an effort to not be left behind in the anti-autonomy race to the bottom of the barrel, this is Ohio republicans' House Bill 200:

A BILL
To amend sections 2305.11, 2317.56, 2919.171, and 4731.22 and to repeal section 2317.561 of the Revised Code to modify the notification requirements given by a physician 48 hours prior to the performance or inducement of an abortion, to require the physician to perform an obstetric ultrasound examination 48 hours prior to the performance or inducement of an abortion, to modify the definition of medical emergency that applies to the law regulating abortion, and to eliminate medical necessity as a reason to perform an abortion without complying with the 48-hour notification requirements.

This bill, well. "Horrendous" or "inhumane" don't even begin to cover it. Here is the legislation, as edited and written by Rep. Ron Hood (R)--and co-sponsored by 34 of his republican colleagues. Strike-outs are where they eliminated parts of the current law and underline is their new addition.

Sec. 2317.56. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Medical emergency" means a condition of a pregnant woman that, in the reasonable judgment of the physician who is attending the woman, creates an immediate threat of serious risk to the life or physical health so complicates the medical condition of the woman from the continuation of that the death of the woman would result from the failure to immediately terminate the pregnancy necessitating the immediate performance or inducement of an abortion.

(2) "Medical necessity" means a medical condition of a pregnant woman that, in the reasonable judgment of the physician who is attending the woman, so complicates the pregnancy that it necessitates the immediate performance or inducement of an abortion.

(3) "Probable gestational age of the embryo or fetus" means the gestational age that, in the judgment of a physician, is, with reasonable probability, the gestational age of the embryo or fetus at the time that the physician informs a pregnant woman pursuant to division (B)(1)(b) of this section.

(3) "Conflict of interest disclaimer" means a written statement divulging the gross income from the previous year of a physician who performs or induces an abortion or of a facility where an abortion is performed or induced, the percentage of that income that was obtained as fees for the performance of an abortion, and a statement concerning the monetary loss to the physician or facility that would result from the woman's decision to carry the woman's pregnancy to term.

(4) "Viable pregnancy" means a pregnancy in which a fetal sac is located inside the pregnant woman's uterus and fetal cardiac activity is present within the fetal sac.

Yes, you read all that right: "medical necessity" is no longer allowed (only death is a reason for an emergency abortion); a doctor must disclose how much they made/how much they'd make from the abortion (the fuck, really?)/how much not having an abortion would affect a clinic financially; this defines 'viable pregnancy' as one that has an in-utero embryo and any cardiac activity. Which is blatantly another bullshit "heartbeat" law.

(B) Except when there is a medical emergency or medical necessity, an abortion shall be performed or induced only if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) At least twenty-four forty-eight hours prior to the performance or inducement of the abortion, a physician meets with the pregnant woman in person in an individual, private setting and gives her an adequate opportunity to ask questions about the abortion that will be performed or induced. At this meeting, the physician shall inform the pregnant woman, verbally or, if she is hearing impaired, by other means of communication, and in writing of all of the following:

(a) The nature and purpose of the particular abortion procedure to be used and the medical risks associated with that procedure, including the risk of infection, hemorrhage, cervical or uterine perforation, and infertility, the risk to subsequent pregnancies, and the increased risk of breast cancer

That? IS A LIE. There is no link between abortion and breast cancer. Other things abortion does not affect or does not do: future fertility, increase the risk of future miscarriage or preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies, nor cause or increase risk of birth defects. Yep: Ohio republicans want doctors to lie to patients.

Other aspects of this legislation require a patient to receive an ultrasound (trans-vaginal is not specified), along with "Materials, including color photographs, that inform the pregnant woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the zygote, blastocyte, embryo, or fetus at two-week gestational increments for the first sixteen weeks of pregnancy and at four-week gestational increments from the seventeenth week of pregnancy to full term, including any relevant information regarding the time at which the fetus possibly would be viable". This sonogram will be required to be preformed prior to the start of the 48-hour waiting period and comes at an additional cost to the patient.

Any failure to follow these rules will result in a first degree felony for the physician.

Currently also going on in Ohio is the budget debate--the budget must be signed by Gov Kasich by the end of the month--that essentially defunds Planned Parenthood and gives money to "crisis pregnancy centers" (they attempted similar in 2011 and here is how that would work). Along with all this anti-choice fuckery, the budget refuses to expand Medicaid coverage for upwards of 300,000 Ohioans with regards to the Affordable Care Act.