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From Elizabeth Chuck
A bill banning abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat was approved this week by the Senate of Ohio, first step of what the author of the bill has introduced. According to the US Supreme Court, the controversial bill must be welcomed "with open arms".
But many legal experts and women's rights groups claim that the bill has no chance of surviving in the highest court of the country, even with the change in the composition of the judges of the United States. Supreme Court that the conservative appointments of President Donald Trump have introduced.
The so-called Ohio Heartbeat Bill would prohibit abortion from the moment a heartbeat is detected in a fetus, which may take six weeks after the early pregnancy – even before some women know that they are pregnant.
Her author, president and founder of the pro-life Faith 2 Action Network Janet Porter introduced the bill for the first time in 2011 in Ohio and has described it in recent years. the "arrow in the heart of Roe v. Wade", the case that legalized abortion all over the country in 1973.
"We believe that the bill itself is ready for the Supreme Court, "Porter told NBC News on Friday. [19659007] A similar measure had already been passed by the Ohio House and Senate in 2016, but Republican Governor John Kasich had vetoed that right. Porter said Kasich should be emboldened this time by the new Supreme Court justices to get him adopted.
"My hope is that Governor Kasich regains his pro-life roots and continues to beat the heart," she said. "He can not pretend that this is unconstitutional with a court in place ready to accommodate him."
The Heartbeat Bill is one of two abortion restrictions that Republican lawmakers in Ohio have addressed to Kasich. The other bill prohibits dilatations and abortions during evacuation, one of the most common types of procedure.
Kasich said he would veto the bill. Even if he does not, many say that the chances of the bill reaching the Supreme Court, not to mention its support, are minimal.
"This is a ban on almost all abortions, no doubt, this is clearly unconstitutional on the basis of more than 40 years of precedent repeatedly reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The idea that, one way or another, hiding the detectability of a heartbeat changes the equation is nonsense."
The ACLU is committed to immediately initiate legal action to challenge the constitutionality of the bill.
From there, Ohio will almost certainly have to appeal to a court of appeal to re-examine the case, said David S. Cohen, Professor of Law at Drexel University, co-author of the forthcoming book "Obstacle Course: The fight to get an abortion". United States. "
" The lower courts will say that the law is unconstitutional. There is no room for maneuver on this subject. "
" The lower courts will say that the law is unconstitutional. There is no room for that, "he said.
From there, Cohen stated that it could take several years to reach the Supreme Court, which would decide if it wants to hear the case or not.
But meanwhile, it is possible that the Supreme Court will hear a number of other challenges Wade first, as the ban on abortions for fetal abnormalities practiced in Indiana, such as Down Syndrome and the ban proposed by Alabama to impose an abortion procedure in the second trimester.
"Ohio obviously does something radical and unconstitutional, but they are also doing something that they claim to be the case that will overthrow Roe v. Wade. But they're just late for the game here, "said Cohen.
Porter, the bill's author, said the bill is" crafted in such a way that it is in fact not obliged to bring down "Roe v. Wade, but it changes rather the benchmark that the Supreme Court uses to determine the lives of unborn babies."
At present, Roe v. Wade concentrates on fetal viability – accepting conventional medical standards that a fetus becomes viable around 24 weeks, and the fetus's interests can not be placed above the pregnant woman's desire until viability is ensured
"The heartbeat is a more consistent marker … We give them a better test."
"The marker the court is currently using. is viability, which is ugly. This could be wrong. That's a big guess, "Porter said. Heartbeat is a more consistent marker … We give them a better criterion. "
Carol Sanger, a law professor at Columbia University and author of" About Abortion: Ending Pregnancy in 21st Century America, "said that states had repeatedly attempted to passing a law they saw as a chance to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"It's like a sign of honor," she said, a law that is clearly unconstitutional. "[19659007] She said that it was "unlikely" that the Supreme Court would seize the bill on Ohio and felt that the legal options that would entail the reversal of the law would be the same. Roe case v. Wade would not exist in the present case.
But Porter was confident that the High Court would hear it.
"It is ultimately the Supreme Court that will be seized and we think it is ready to welcome this bill that makes the heart beat," said Porter. do not ruin his political future and will never be able to call himself pro-life by vetoing it a second time. "
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