March 17, 2010 - Ohio Right to Life - Today Sen. Tim Grendell (R, Chesterland) and Sen. Karen Gillmor (R, Tiffin) introduced S.B. 242, a bill to revise the process of judicial bypass under Ohio's Parental Consent for Abortion statute.
Under federal court rulings, parental consent statutes must permit a minor girl to "bypass" the parental consent requirement by convincing a juvenile judge either that:
1) she is mature and well enough informed to decide whether to have an abortion; or
2) the abortion is in her best interests.
The bill addresses the fact that some judges are giving virtual "rubber-stamp" approval to these judicial bypass requests.
In a 2008 Columbus Dispatch article on bypass hearings, one Franklin County judge indicated that she had never denied a bypass request and another judge stated that she had denied only one request. A 2003 Akron Beacon Journal survey found a bypass approval rate of either 86% or 92% (the latter when a county that lumped voluntary dismissals with denials was excluded).
S.B. 242 would require that:
- The girl must prove her case by "clear and convincing evidence";
- The judge ask about the girl's understanding of the possible physical and emotional complications of abortion and what she would do if she experienced such complications; and
- The judge question the extent that the girl has been "prepped" about how to answer questions and what testimony to give at the bypass hearing.
In addition to Senators Grendell and Gillmor, Ohio Senators co-sponsoring S.B. 242 are: Steve Buehrer; Keith Faber; Jon Husted; Tim Schaffer; Bill Seitz; and Chris Widener.
