Attorneys General (AGs) for 18 U.S. states asked a judge in Hamilton County, Ohio, to throw out a temporary block on the state’s “heartbeat bill” Monday, according to a friend-of-court brief.
Mississippi AG Lynn Fitch is leading the group, which includes AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
A judge temporarily blocked Ohio’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks gestation in September 2022. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the legislation into law in 2019, and the bill went into effect following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
“Amici’s experience extends to one of the issues now before this Court: whether abortion providers have third-party standing to vindicate a right to abortion,” the AGs said in the brief. “The U.S. Supreme Court long accorded abortion providers such standing. That was a mistake. It departed from sound principles of standing, damaged the law, and hurt the Court.” (RELATED: Pro-Life Group Releases Statement Following ‘Terrific’ Private Meeting With Trump After Public Criticism)
Ohio Attorney General Asks State Supreme Court to Uphold Abortion Ban https://t.co/pbtPO23xi4 pic.twitter.com/9SPS1lI6G0
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“The Court should hold that the abortion-provider plaintiffs lack third-party standing to challenge the Heartbeat Act,” the brief continued.
“While it is disappointing, we are not at all surprised that lots of extreme, anti-choice politicians are supporting the Ohio politicians who oppose the right to abortion,” ACLU of Ohio cooperating attorney Jessie Hill said of the brief. “The science, medicine, and general public are on our side, however.”