NRL News
202.626.8824
dadandrusk@aol.com

Judge indicates he will issue second temporary restraining order on Ohio’s Heartbeat Law

Sep 21, 2022

By Dave Andrusko

As anticipated,  Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins extended for another six weeks the temporary restraining order that blocked Ohio’s  Heartbeat Law, Senate Bill 23,  from going in effect, according to lawyers for both sides.

The judge set October 7 as the day attorneys will “explain whether he should grant a preliminary injunction, which could indefinitely block state law banning doctors from performing abortions after cardiac activity is detected,” The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jessie Balmert reported.

“On Sept. 15, Jenkins, a Democrat, temporarily blocked Ohio’s six-week abortion ban for 14 days, the maximum length of time allowed,” Balmert wrote. “The temporary restraining order can be extended once for a maximum of 14 days.”

Once the second temporary restraining order comes, “Ohio abortion clinics will be able to provide abortions up until 22 weeks from a woman’s last menstrual period at least through Oct. 12.”

Hours after the June 24th decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade a federal judges said SB23 could go into immediate effect. Pro-abortionists filed first with the Ohio Supreme, but changed course “and refiled it in Hamilton County on Sept. 3 after the Supreme Court declined to immediately act,” Andrew J. Tobias, of Cleveland.com reported.

Judge Jenkins’ sentiments are not in question. Tobias wrote

Jenkins has indicated he plans to rule in favor of abortion advocates, agreeing with their arguments that equal-protection guarantees contained in Ohio’s constitution covers the right to obtain an abortion. He noted a 1993 decision from a state appellate court that found the Ohio Constitution confers greater abortion rights than the U.S. Constitution, including a broad scope of the meaning of “liberty.”

Which ever side prevails, there will be an appeal. The case will likely first be heard by the First District Court of Appeals and then the Ohio Supreme Court. 

Mike Gonidakis, Ohio Right to Life’s executive director, “has accused plaintiffs in the case of forum shopping,” Tobias reported. He said the case likely will take months to resolve.

“I’ve read the Ohio Constitution like I’ve read the U.S. Constitution, and nowhere in there is there a guaranteed right to abortion,” he said.

Categories: Judicial
Tags: