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This was published 7 years ago
Why Ohio's 'fetal heartbeat' anti-abortion bill should have us all worried
By Linda Tirado
Ohio is the state I flew to three years ago when I needed an abortion. It was a traumatic experience for me, not something I ever thought I would do. But the circumstances were unusual and years later I am still certain of my decision. It was right for my family. I was and am grateful for what I should have been entitled to anywhere in America: access to medical services.
Today, women across America are fighting to hold on to those rights in the face of a soon-to-be Republican administration that is angling to overturn them. And Ohio is the battlefront.
Linda Tirado had to travel to Ohio to have an abortion.Credit: Scott Suchman
It is a time-honoured American tradition for people who have never read medical journals or basic biology texts to pass laws about how women should take care of themselves. Now the state that once protected me is trying to claim the title of "least informed and most dangerous", with the passage last week of the Fetal Heartbeat Bill.
This measure bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detectable. In other words, well before most women even realise they're pregnant.
In practical terms, the bill outlaws abortion and makes no exceptions for rape, incest or maternal health. It's hard to overstate the idiocy or the evil of that. Though most pregnancies go perfectly well, there are a host of potentially life-threatening complications. The legislators of the state of Ohio in their wisdom prefer dead adult women to the risk of angering their God.
In recent months Americans have redefined the word "good" to mean "not as bad as it could get, I suppose", and by that measure there's some "good" news for the women of Ohio. The legislature has also passed a measure that would ban abortion at the suddenly-generous-seeming 20 weeks. It's a hell of a bait and switch, as 20 is before even a 10 per cent fetal viability. Ohio will join a mere dozen states that are this restrictive.
But the heartbeat bill seems to be aimed at the Supreme Court, where women might at least have a chance. Then again, so do the anti-choice crusaders. Abortion opponents have been crowing about Donald Trump's election because they think they'll have a shot at overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that ruled abortion a constitutional right for women nationwide.
Given the design of the American political system, overturning that ruling would mean its opponents will need a case to make it to that level again. So they'll have to pass a law, knowing it will be taken to court and probably lose. Eventually the law will be considered at the highest levels.
The Supreme Court is currently short one judge, as Republicans have obstructed President Obama's nominee from being confirmed. The next president will be able to seat at least one justice. The upshot of all this is: nobody has a clue what might happen because there are so many moving parts right now.
One last possibility is that the governor of Ohio, John Kasich, might veto the heartbeat bill. He's got a week to do that if he's going to. He might, as taking the bill to court will be a lengthy and expensive prospect for the state in a time of economic uncertainty. Or he might not, because he's never been shy about his virulent pro-life views, and he might think they'll win.
It's not a good sign for women in America that we're pinning our hopes on maybes and what-ifs. Many women are stocking up on birth control or deciding to have IUDs implanted, because Republicans are prone to cutting women's health clinics and are on record as opposing birth control coverage in government-associated health plans.
We are not so far gone from the days of coat hangers and poisonous home abortifacients that we're not worried.
This country has succumbed to the same kind of rightward shift much of the western world has: Britain has Brexit and Australia has, oddly, George Christensen in a tank top with a whip and a religious tattoo.
Women in Ohio especially and America more broadly are scrambling to keep their rights: if there's a lesson you can learn from this, it's don't follow our example. This way lies madness and if this bill passes women will die in the name of "life", hollow and hypocritical.