Ohio Gov. John Kasich signs down syndrome abortion ban (Repost)
This is a repost of the previous article I posted. As that article had over 500 comments, I thought a repost of the same article would make for a fresh start, without risk of lagging or crashing the site. Thanks for your interest and comments.
From NBCNEWS :
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome, joining other states with similarly strict legislation.
Republican Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation into law on Friday. Lawmakers had sent the bill to him earlier this month, in one of their last acts of the year. The legislation, which cleared the GOP-led Legislature with some Republican opposition, makes it a crime for a doctor to terminate a pregnancy based on knowledge of Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality that causes developmental delays and medical conditions such as heart defects and respiratory and hearing problems. It makes performing an abortion in such cases a fourth-degree felony and requires the state medical board to revoke the physician's license if convicted. Pregnant women involved in such procedures won't be penalized.
Kasich's action was a victory for the anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, which argued it will prevent discrimination based on misinformation.
"Now that the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act is law, unborn babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are given a shot at life" the group's president, Mike Gonidakis, said in a statement Friday.
Abortion rights groups argued the law would be another blow to women's constitutional right to legal abortion. The executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, Kellie Copeland, said the law does nothing to support families taking care of loved ones with Down syndrome but instead "exploits them as part of a larger anti-choice strategy to systematically make all abortion care illegal."
"This law shames women and will have a chilling effect on the conversations between doctors and patients because of the criminal penalties that doctors will face," Copeland said.
A statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on Friday said Kasich signed a "blatantly unconstitutional bill." The civil rights group said it is coordinating with its legal staff and coalition partners to determine the next steps. North Dakota and Indiana were ahead of Ohio in passing similar restrictions. The Indiana law has been blocked by a federal judge, who said the state has no right to limit women's reasons for terminating pregnancies. The Indiana measure was enacted in 2016. North Dakota's went into effect in 2013 and has not been challenged. That state's sole abortion clinic, in Fargo, says the issue hasn't arisen under its policy of not performing abortions after 16 weeks into a pregnancy.
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As I said previously: It's not surprising Gov. Kasich signed a blatantly unconstitutional law into effect. It's only a matter of time before the legal challenges begin.
It will be challenged and rejected, I am sure. That said, maybe they need a law that, if this law remained on the books would force anti-abortion groups to adopt and raise these children.
More Republican war on women.....blatant attempt to undermine a woman's right to choose. I give families all the credit in the world for raising downs children, but not everyone is financially or emotionally equipped to handle it, not to mention what one does after they die and how and who takes care of them.
Perhaps those forced to have down syndrome babies should just drop them off on Governor Kasich's doorstep.
Why does Kasich want to make people's lives worse?
He's a Republican. Making people's lives worse is their primary objective.
Thank you for the repost! I was just about to ask you to do this and it you considerately did it without me asking!
No problem Perrie. My pleasure.
While this new Ohio law will be immediately struck down by the federal courts just like a similar law in Indiana was, it does prove that Kasich is the same sort of bible-babbling extremist as the rest of the nuts in the GOP. His homophobic and misogynistic agenda is just as bad as Trump's and the GOP's in general.
We all know what Gov. Kasich is like. This particular issue comes as no surprise given his involvement.
During the election campaign I found it amusing that Kasich was being portrayed as the moderate and sane voice of the GOP. Anyone familiar with his record knew that he's an extremist and a bigoted theocrat.
Yeah, but Kasich believes the liberal lie that Barack Obama is an American citizen. That pretty much makes you a communist to today's GOP!