CINCINNATI — Abortions up to 20 weeks are legal in Ohio until further notice after a Hamilton County judge granted a preliminary injunction against the Ohio's "Heartbeat" law on Friday.
What You Need To Know
- Judge Christian Jenkins issued a preliminary injunction that puts Ohio's 'Heartbeat' law on hold
- The contested law bars abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks
- Until a final determination is made, abortion up to 20 weeks remains legal
After hours of testimony, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins ruled that Ohio’s law that bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected will remain on hold while the suit challenging the law's constitutionality goes through the courts.
Among the witnesses was a medical director with Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio who said she had to turn away nearly 600 patients once the law went into effect earlier this year.
One of those patients had stage three cancer and needed an abortion in order to get chemotherapy. The witness told the judge that the law violates women’s rights.
“It will again severely limit the access for Ohio women to abortion," she said. "It will lead to them again traveling out of state and not being able to obtain an abortion.”
On the other side, a biomedical expert took the stand as one of two witnesses for the state, arguing that life begins at conception and that the embryo should be protected.
In the end, Jenkins decided to put the injunction in place, making abortion legal in Ohio through the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy until the suit is settled.