The Ohio Legislature has introduced a draconian bill that would require doctors to perform a medically impossible procedure or risk being charged with “abortion murder.”
H.B. 413 would outlaw abortion outright. It defines a fertilized egg as an “unborn child.” Additionally, the bill mandates doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus” — a procedure that does not exist.
An ectopic pregnancy is a dangerous condition in which an egg is fertilized outside the uterus, rendering the pregnancy unviable and a potentially life-threatening emergency for patients. According to Dr. Chris Zahn, vice president of practice activities at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, reimplantation of an ectopic pregnancy is “not physiologically possible.”
This dystopian proposal would charge doctors who perform abortions and patients as young as 13 who have an abortion with “abortion murder,” punishable by life in prison. This bill endangers the lives of patients by restricting the medically necessary procedures doctors are able to perform. It also obliterates the fundamental freedom to abortion care protected by Roe v. Wade. Although laws criminalizing abortion are currently unenforceable, such laws would immediately spring into effect if Roe were to be overturned.
The only organized opposition to legal abortion is religious in nature, predicated on the religious concept of “ensoulment,” thereby making reproductive rights a state/church matter. Please contact your lawmakers today and urge them to strongly oppose H.B. 413. Click on the red “Take Action!” button below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
