An Ohio judge — and former director and president of Planned Parenthood of Cincinnati — has blocked a law that bans selective abortions that target and discriminate against unborn babies with Down Syndrome.
Judge Timothy S. Black, an Obama-appointed U.S. District Court judge for Southern Ohio, issued a preliminary injunction against the law, arguing in his 22- page ruling that ‘federal law is crystal clear’ in that states may not prohibit women from deciding to terminate a pregnancy before viability.
Black, reputedly a stridently liberal judge added, “It violates the right to privacy of every woman in Ohio and is unconstitutional on its face.”
The law would have taken effect March 23, 2018; due to Black’s ruling, the state of Ohio is prevented from enforcing the law until the case is decided.
Ohio Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 214, known as the “Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act” on December 22, 2017, making Ohio the fourth state to ban abortions performed after prenatal tests indicate a fetus may have Down syndrome. This law “prohibits a person from performing, inducing or attempting to perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman who is seeking the abortion because an unborn child has or may have Down syndrome.” A doctor who knows of the existence of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis and proceeds to perform an abortion may be charged with a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU later filed lawsuits against the state of Ohio. Supporters of the bill claimed that allowing abortions after a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome amounted to 21st century eugenics. Opponents of the law claimed the bill would have a chilling effect on a woman’s conversation with her doctor and did nothing to improve the lives of Ohioans with Down syndrome.
At the December signing, Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis thanked Governor Kasich for signing the bill and said the law gave unborn babies a‘shot at life’.
“Ohio is and will continue to be a state that sees people with down syndrome as lives worth living, thanks to this legislation,” Gonidakis said in a statement.
Also issuing a statement in December, Cincinnati Right To Life observed “While every unborn child deserves protection from abortion death, [House Bill 214] is helpful in protecting those targeted for destruction due to cultural bigotry against babies identified as ‘abnormal’ or ‘imperfect’ due to Down syndrome prediction.”
In March of 2016, Indiana issued a state law banning gender-selective abortions and those based on prenatal diagnoses of disabilities such as Down syndrome. Signed by then-Governor Mike Pence, the ‘Sex Selective and Disability Abortion Ban’ was blocked in September 2016 by federal judge and Obama appointee Tanya Walton Pratt. Pratt issued a permanent injunction claiming that provisions of the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
In her ruling, Pratt found “it is a woman’s right to choose an abortion that is protected.” Judge Pratt also stated “The right to a pre-viability abortion is categorical….which leaves no room for the state to examine, let alone prohibit, the basis upon which a woman makes her choice.”
In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge Black echoed Pratt’s reasoning.
“The state cannot dictate what factors a woman is permitted to consider in making her choice,” he wrote.
Reacting to Judge Black’s ruling, Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life said, “it is a shame that an organization that claims to be the very biggest and best at defending victims of discrimination completely disregards the most vulnerable members of our society who are being discriminated against.”
In a statement to CNN, Gonidakis praised Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for his fierce defense of the non-discriminatory law. Dan Tierney, spokesman for the pro-life DeWine stated they are reviewing Black’s ruling and vowed the office will continue to defend Ohio law.
The Ohio case now moves to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. President Trump has already appointed three judges to the conservative-leaning court. The president had made a campaign promise to appoint judges who follow the Constitution as written. Selectively aborting babies with Downs is not unique to the USA ; Iceland brags that nearly 100 percent of Down syndrome babies are aborted.
~ Liberty Planet
