Ohio Republicans to introduce bill that would treat abortion as homicide and ban all procedures in the state

Ohio residents voted to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution two years ago

Ohio Republicans are introducing a bill to ban all abortions in the state by classifying the procedure as homicide.

Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce the "Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act” on Wednesday, which would classify abortion as homicide. Austin Beigel, founder of End Abortion Ohio, told The Independent the bill will “make a positive affirmation of the personhood of the pre-born.”

In 2023, Ohio residents voted to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution. Since then, judges have struck down legislation that seeks to limit or ban abortion access despite the amendment.

The legislation will almost certainly face legal challenges if it passes. Beigel told The Independent the goal of the bill is to “create an immediate conflict between our state's constitution...and the U.S. Constitution, which declares that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of the law.”

Beigel hopes legal challenges to the bill could rise as far as the Supreme Court.

The bill could also end in vitro fertilization in the state and ban some forms of contraception, including IUDs, The Columbus Dispatch reports. Beigel said IVF clinics “will not be able to operate the way they are right now” under the legislation, but noted the bill does not mention contraception.

Abortion access advocates celebrate after Ohio residents passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to an abortion in the state in 2023. A new bill from state Republicans seeks to challenge the amendment and classify abortion as homicide (AFP via Getty Images)

Several abortion rights advocates — and even some anti-abortion activists — have come out against the bill.

Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said his organization doesn’t support the bill.

“We have never supported criminalizing a woman for having an abortion, and we never will,” Gonidakis told the Dispatch. “It’s completely out of bounds and inappropriate.”

"This isn’t even a Hail Mary," he added. "It's a strategy that won't be successful at the legislative level and it's a strategy that won't be successful at the judicial level."

Beigel said End Abortion Ohio doesn’t align with Ohio Right to Life: “We do not have the same goals, because Ohio Right to Life does not want to abolish abortion, they want to regulate abortion.”

Kellie Copeland, executive director of the advocacy group Abortion Forward, called the bill’s supporters “out-of-touch anti-abortion extremists.”

"This would strip Ohioans’ ability to make decisions for our lives, health and well-being, including banning all abortion care, banning some types of birth control, and denying IVF treatment that helps people build their families,” Copeland told the Dispatch.

The Supreme Court enshrined abortion access as a Constitutional right in the 1973 case Roe v Wade. But the nation’s highest court overturned the ruling in 2022 with its 6-3 decision on Dobbs v Jackson.

Since then, abortion has been banned in 12 states, while six states have instituted a gestational limit between six and 12 weeks. But most people don’t know they’re pregnant until their first missed period, which means many don’t find out until after six weeks.

Georgia is one of the states which bans abortion after six weeks. There, Atlanta resident Adriana Smith was kept alive on life support for months after doctors declared her brain dead so she could carry out her pregnancy. Her family says doctors kept her on life support due to the gestational limit law.

The 30-year-old was two months pregnant when she was declared brain-dead in February. Her family said she gave birth via C-section on June 13 to a baby boy.

The Independent has contacted End Abortion Ohio, Dean and Newman for comment.