Court order protects 2 Southwest Ohio abortion clinics from closure for now

Two Southwest Ohio abortion clinics would face closure if not for a Hamilton County judge's order keeping their doors open.

In July, the Ohio Department of Health informed Mount Auburn's Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Women’s Med near Dayton that they risked losing their credentials to operate in the state, according to letters signed by health director Bruce Vanderhoff and obtained through a public records request.

However, Hamilton County Judge Alison Hatheway's preliminary injunction from June 2022 is preventing the state department from taking any action, at least for now.

"But for this order, I would be statutorily required to deny the request," Vanderhoff wrote in the July letters. "Please be aware that action necessary to enforce Ohio law will be taken when the injunction is lifted."

Attorney Jessie Hill, who represents Women's Med, said the whole process is frustrating.

“It’s frustrating that ODH refused to grant the variances, although the clinics are legally entitled to them," Hill said. "But it is clear that the clinics are permitted to continue operating during this time.”

Which law did the clinics violate? Ohio requires abortion clinics to partner with local, private hospitals in case of emergencies. If a hospital won't agree, clinics can obtain an exception, called a variance, by partnering with several local doctors.

In late 2021, Ohio's GOP-controlled Legislature put more restrictions on who those local doctors could be. Doctors cannot have ties to medical schools affiliated with state colleges or universities. According to the Ohio Department of Health, both of the Southwest Ohio clinics have doctors with ties to medical schools in violation of that new law.

Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region spokesperson Maya McKenzie called the new rules "medically unnecessary and just another strategy on the part of the state to place endless barriers on a person’s ability to access safe, legal abortion."

Judge Hatheway, a Democrat, blocked that law from taking effect, writing that Ohio did not have a "compelling governmental interest" to implement these requirements and that enforcing them would cause irreparable harm to the clinics and their patients.

"The intended purpose of backup doctors is to provide life-saving care in the rare emergency circumstances resulting from a procedural abortion, not provide or assist in providing procedural abortion," Hatheway wrote in her order. "To prohibit otherwise qualified physicians from being able to provide such care, as this statute appears to do, is contrary to the State's interest in 'the health, safety, and welfare of citizens.'"

McKenzie said if the injunction is lifted, "the law would unfairly revoke licenses for abortion clinics within the state, creating even more unnecessary health care barriers for Ohioans.”

That case is on hold pending the result of the Ohio Supreme Court's review of a 2019 ban on most abortions. Attorneys will make their case to the court during oral arguments next week, and a decision could come as soon as later this year.

PPSWO Variance Response - July 2023 by Jessie Balmert on Scribd

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Court order protects 2 Ohio abortion clinics from closure for now