Did These Ohio Lawmakers Just Run Over Roe?

“Empowered by Trump,” Ohio lawmakers passed a bill to protect unborn babies.

The state’s Republican-majority legislature approved a measure that would prohibit abortionists from killing an unborn baby with a detectable heartbeat, usually around six weeks.

The question is, will Republican governor John Kasich, who failed to gain the GOP presidential nomination, sign the bill into law?

Here is what a baby looks like at 6 weeks @ppact – so the babies you abort will be even more advanced. https://t.co/bc311iHY4G pic.twitter.com/id2IGvi3el

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) December 7, 2016

The majority of unborn babies are killed within the first eight weeks of pregnancy. In the United States, it’s legal for women to kill the tiny human beings growing inside them until the babies reach the point where they can live outside the womb — around 24 weeks. From the Washington Post:

Similar bills have been blocked by the courts. Because of this, even many antiabortion advocates have opposed such measures.

But some Ohio Republicans said they were empowered to support the bill because of President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion nationally.

“New president, new Supreme Court justice appointees, change the dynamic,” state Senate President Keith Faber (R) told WHIO-TV after the vote. Asked if he believed it could withstand a constitutional challenge, he replied he felt “it has a better chance than it did before.”

One of the bill’s opponents, a Planned Parenthood executive, said such measures “punish women” and asked the governor to veto it.

If the issue of abortion was returned to the states, lawmakers would probably have an easier time enacting such laws. Considering that Roe v. Wade is the “law of the land,” Gov. Kasich’s decision will be…interesting. A Trump court could overturn Roe.

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