Judge Blocks Ohio’s Abortion Ban Once and for All
Would ya look at that? Something good and not terrible!
Photo: Getty Images AbortionPoliticsOhio residents can breathe a sigh of relief: A judge has finally, permanently blocked the state’s six-week abortion ban, about a year after voters in the red state decisively passed a ballot measure to enshrine a right to abortion in the state Constitution. Ohio’s abortion ban first took effect in June 2022, just days after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling. Within three months, Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins temporarily blocked the law pending a review of its constitutionality—but it still remained in the books.
Then, on Thursday night, Jenkins released a ruling to permanently block the ban. “Ohio voters have spoken,” he wrote. “The Ohio constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion.”
Even before Jenkins’ ruling, David C. Young, the Franklin County common pleas judge, blocked a 24-hour, anti-abortion waiting period law in August, citing the ballot measure’s victory, which adds “clear and unambiguous” language protecting abortion access to the state Constitution.
It’s been over two years since Ohio’s abortion ban was last active, and a full year since voters resoundingly rejected the ban. Nonetheless, Ohioans have been forced to live in uncertainty, especially as Ohio Republicans have repeatedly attempted to challenge the ballot measure’s victory in court. Their efforts over the last year have also raised alarms about how GOP officials in the 10 states that are voting on abortion ballot measures this November will respond if these measures are successful. But at least for now, on this sunny Friday afternoon in which Ohioans have a confirmed right to abortion again, I’m choosing careful optimism…
This legal victory is worth celebrating if for no other reason than the incredibly bleak path to get here. Shortly after Dobbs, Ohio made national headlines when a 10-year-old rape victim in the state was forced to travel to Indiana for care. Later, when reproductive rights organizers worked to get the abortion measure on the ballot last year, they were met with roadblock after roadblock from Republican officials, including voter roll purges and targeted attempts to raise the threshold for ballot measures to succeed.
“This is a momentous ruling, showing the power of Ohio’s new Reproductive Freedom Amendment in practice,” an attorney for the ACLU of Ohio said of Jenkins’ ruling. “The six-week ban is blatantly unconstitutional and has no place in our law.” Just over a week from Election Day, here’s hoping for similar victories in Missouri, Florida, Arizona, Nebraska, and South Dakota in November.