Republicans in the Ohio state legislature introduced legislation on Monday that would ban almost all abortion after conception.
House Bill 704, “The Personhood Act,” sponsored by Rep. Gary Click and joined by seven other members, is one page long and states that unborn humans have “personhood” from conception forward. Therefore, the legislation continues, the state of Ohio will protect their constitutional rights. If the bill is passed, it would effectively ban all abortions in Ohio.
“The State of Ohio shall recognize the personhood, and protect the constitutional rights, of all unborn human individuals from the moment of conception,” the bill reads.
Current Ohio law allows for abortions until roughly six weeks of pregnancy when the unborn child’s heartbeat is detected. Under the proposed new law, only abortions necessary to protect the life of the mother would be legal.
Ohio GOP reps who are sponsoring new bill that would ban abortion at conception unless mother’s life at risk:
Gary Click
Jennifer Gross
Thomas Hall
Kris Jordan
Susan Manchester
Jena Powell
Craig Riedel
Reggie Stoltzfus
Full text: https://t.co/Carl67RJr7
https://t.co/RehObOWUlf— Darrel Rowland (@darreldrowland) July 11, 2022
“Some other people use some other artificial terms, such as viability and so on and so forth. And that’s really been a moving target as science has advanced,” Click said, according to KOUB. “But from the moment of conception, that person is a unique individual with their own DNA, and I believe they are deserving of all the rights of personhood.”
This bill comes alongside the pending Human Life Protection Act, which would “prohibit abortions based upon a condition precedent” and would make providing an abortion a felony. (RELATED: Liberal Prosecutors Say They Won’t Enforce Abortion Bans)
Neither of the proposed bills make exceptions for rape or incest.