This week Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed into law one extreme anti-abortion bill, banning all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while vetoing another, even more extreme anti-abortion bill.
The more extreme HB 493, also known as the “Heartbeat Bill,” is the bill that was vetoed. The inhumane anti-abortion legislation was slipped in at the last minute onto a bill originally written in regard to child abuse reporting. The bill would have made it a felony, punishable by up to a year in prison, for a physician to perform an abortion for someone who is 6 weeks pregnant without first checking for a fetal heartbeat, or for performing the abortion after a heartbeat has been detected. This would have effectively banned most legal abortions in the state, as most don’t find out they are pregnant until around the fifth week.
However, Kasich did sign into law SB 127 which bans abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. It provides no exceptions for victims of incest or rape, or for fetuses with severe or life-threatening developmental abnormalities. It is important to remember that, nationally, the vast majority of abortions are performed in the first trimester of pregnancy. In the U.S, 91.6 percent of abortions occur before the 14th week of pregnancy. In Ohio in 2014, a total of 145 abortions were performed after the 20-week mark, only .7 percent of the total abortions in the state. A bill like this targets those who are experiencing what are often particularly sensitive circumstances. Abortions in the 20th week and beyond are often sought due to abnormalities that are dangerous to either the fetus, the woman, or both. In some cases someone has been seeking an abortion since early in the pregnancy but was not able to get the procedure until later, due to lack of access to a provider, lack of money, substance abuse, or domestic violence.
A common argument against abortion at 20 weeks is that it’s approaching the stage in which the fetus could hypothetically be born and live outside the womb (called “fetal viability”). According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, infants born before 23 weeks do not survive. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development shows data from a five-year study that finds 99 percent of infants born before 22 weeks gestation suffer severe neurodevelopmental impairment or death. Laws being written, lobbied for, and passed with a foundational belief in viability at 20 weeks have absolutely no basis in fact, science, or reality.
Sexist, dehumanizing laws that restrict access to legal abortion are becoming more and more common. Since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973, states have enacted over 1,000 abortion restrictions – with more than 25 percent of that total being passed from 2010 to 2015 alone! The crushing inequalities of capitalism continue to push working class people into desperate attempts to find solutions.
The election of Trump has inspired the extreme anti-abortion rightwing to go on the offensive. Before Trump, the anti-abortion politicians of Ohio would have never even hoped to pass an extreme violation of human rights such as HB 493 – the Supreme Court would surely strike it down as a violation of Roe v. Wade. While HB 493 was vetoed, even its introduction and passage by a state legislature sets a new precedent. With president-elect Trump on the cusp of choosing the next Supreme Court judge, right-wing terrorists are emboldened to push through the legislation of their dreams and our nightmares.
Abortion has existed for thousands of years. Criminalizing, banning, or restricting access to the procedure does not push it out of existence – it pushes it underground. When abortion was illegal in the U.S. women would travel across states and even to other countries to get the procedure. Those who were unable to pay for a local, “back alley” or international abortion made desperate at-home attempts that involved throwing themselves down stairs, drinking chemical concoctions, or inserting a knitting needle, bicycle spoke, or pen into the uterus. Many major hospitals had a ward to treat the severe infections caused by unsterile, illegal abortions. Women’s liberation activists formed collectives (such as the “Jane Collective”) and trained themselves to provide safe, but illegal, abortions. Before Roe v. Wade, it is estimated that 5,000 women died annually as a result of illegal abortions. A 1967 study found illegal abortion to be the most common single cause of maternal death in California.
Not only cisgender women get pregnant or seek abortion services. Anyone who can get pregnant is threatened by strict legislation of our reproductive rights! Abortion access is a national battle for women, gender nonconforming people, and trans men – our lives are literally on the line. The ruling class exploits this issue in order to oppress us and take away our power to choose what happens to our own bodies. We must fight back and organize to build a system that protects our rights and doesn’t leave room for patriarchal oppression.
