Planned Parenthood, ACLU file lawsuit to block ‘Heartbeat Bill’
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The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the law firm WilmerHale have filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Supreme Court over state’s moves following the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
According to a release, the ACLU said the lawsuit is “seeking to block the state’s six-week ban on abortion and to restore and further protect Ohioans’ reproductive rights secured by the Ohio Constitution.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Twitter that Ohio’s, “Heartbeat Bill is now the law.” Yost added that the injunction blocking Ohio’s Heartbeat bill has been dissolved.
>> RELATED: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade: ‘Heartbeat Bill’ is now law in Ohio
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of Preterm-Cleveland, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, Planned Parenthood Greater Ohio, Women’s Med Group Professional Corporation, Northeast Ohio Women’s Center, Toledo Women’s Center, and Dr. Sharon Liner, an individual abortion provider.
“This sweeping measure, which prevents nearly every pregnant person from accessing essential care, is blatantly unconstitutional under Ohio’s state constitution which has broad protections for individual liberties,” Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a release. “We ask the Ohio Supreme Court to stop enforcement of Senate Bill 23. Absent action from the court, many Ohioans will be forced to give birth against their will, many will have illegal or dangerous abortions, and some will die.”
Yost issued a statement in response to the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon.
“Races don’t start at the finish line, and lawsuits don’t start in the final court. Aside from filing the wrong action in the wrong court, they are wrong as well on Ohio law. Abortion is not in the Ohio Constitution,” Yost said.
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Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis released the following statement to our news partners at WCPO in Cincinnati in response to the suit:
“The Ohio Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction in mandamus cases where, as here, there is an adequate remedy at law through a declaratory judgment and injunction action in a common pleas court—wholly apart from the meritless nature of the Complaint. Clearly, the Plaintiffs believe there is a pro-abortion majority on the Ohio Supreme Court that likely will be lost this November. Thus, Plaintiffs do not want to file in a Common Pleas Court but want the current Supreme Court to declare a fake right to an abortion in Ohio right now. In making that request, Plaintiffs are asking the Ohio Supreme Court Justices to violate the constitutional limits of its jurisdiction, in violation of their oaths of office.”
A full copy of the lawsuit can be viewed here.
