COLUMBUS, Ohio — Anti-abortion advocates say they are working with Ohio lawmakers to put forward a total abortion ban. This comes after the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the state's appeal to enforce a near-total abortion ban.
Abortion was voted into law and became a constitutional right in Ohio, and the state is already seeing the results in court.
"Relief is like the primary feeling," Antony Fair with Preterm Cleveland said. "It felt really good to be able to not have that fear about it getting appealed."
The Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the state’s appeal on the six-week ban, a case covered extensively by News 5, sending it back to the state court that blocked it.
Although this is a win, Fair says repealing every other abortion restriction is going to be an uphill battle. Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Entin agreed.
RELATED: Abortion access is protected in Ohio. Now what?
"Just because you have a law on the books doesn't necessarily tell us exactly how things are going to play out in the real world," Entin said.
There are dozens of other abortion restrictions that need to be handled in court, Entin explained, like the mandatory 24-hour wait period between seeing a physician and getting the abortion.
"The state of Ohio would stop at nothing to continue challenging abortion," Fair added.
News 5 has been covering abortion in Ohio extensively. Click here to read the latest stories.
It’s happening behind the scenes. Right now, anti-abortion advocate Austin Beigel is working with lawmakers to introduce a total abortion ban.
His group, End Abortion Ohio, is a growing coalition of anti-abortion advocates and lobbyists. They provided an inside look at their legislation.
It would create a total abortion ban, with an exception for the life of the mother. It would make the procedure or abortion pill a homicide.
Under the proposed bill, the only lawful abortion would need to meet all of the following conditions: be performed by a licensed physician, be intended to save the life of the mother in danger of death, result in an unintentional rather than intentional death of the "preborn human," and be performed after all other "reasonable options" to save both mother and child have been attempted or are unavailable.
The cells, zygote, embryo, fetus and eventually baby-in-womb would have all the same rights as someone who is already born, meaning all criminal and civil laws would apply.
The bill would also nullify state law that allows a person to direct, advise, encourage or solicit a person to have an abortion.
A similar bill in a previous General Assembly drew concerns from in vitro fertilization patients and doctors, who believed it could outlaw the practice. Other concerns came from people who have IUDs or other forms of birth control that they feel the GOP would consider "spermicides."
The draft is currently being discussed in the "Pro-Life Caucus," a group of 27 Republicans inside the Ohio House. There is at least one sponsor and several other cosponsors, according to Beigel.
"If the Ohio legislature does move forward with a personhood bill, it will create a conflict between the language in Issue 1," Beigel said.
He believes it could hold up in court because of an equal protection provision in the US Constitution. His idea would be to use the 14th Amendment to rule that the state constitution is now in violation of said clause.
"I don't think it's a very good argument," Entin said. "I think that there has been a virtually universal understanding among lawyers and judges that when the Constitution talks about people or persons, we're talking about folks who are born."
Beigel knows this will be a legal challenge, but he is also trying to normalize the idea of a total ban. By continuing to introduce it, it may get passed further down the line, he argued.
"Do you think that putting forward a personhood bill would be going against the will of the people?" Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked him.
"It would be going against the majority of the voters, yes, I fully acknowledge that," Beigel responded. "Voters can decide to do things that are immoral and evil; That has been a deeply historical part of our country and the majority of people have desired evil at many times in our culture's history."
He referenced race and gender issues as examples.
Statehouse leaders say they have no current plans to overturn Issue 1, but Beigel adds that other anti-abortion groups are planning a new constitutional amendment overturning Issue 1, and another is planning a 15-week proposal for the ballot.
Dozens of Statehouse Republicans have spoken out or proposed legislation to prevent Issue 1 from going into effect. Click here to view the timeline of every major statement or proposal.
Beigel acknowledged that some Republicans, including other anti-abortion groups, would not be on board with his group's plan — but he said that if politicians call themselves "pro-life," they should demonstrate that.
This draft could hurt the anti-abortion crowd, Entin said, explaining that this could encourage even more abortion rights supporters to show up for continuous elections, thus helping elect more progressive candidates.
Regardless, Fair's team is ready.
"Whatever Ohio throws at us, whatever politicians throw at us — I think we've got it," Fair said.
Now that the Supreme Court has punted the case back to a state judge, it will likely be thrown out — which could be a trend moving forward with other types of restrictions.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
