Media Complains About Ohio Law Banning Eugenic Abortions

By: Nancy Flanders, originally published August 22, 2024, LiveAction.org

Ohio law protecting preborn babies with Down syndrome is still in place, and the media is angry

An article published at Cleveland.com lamented that a law protecting preborn children with Down syndrome from eugenics-based abortions is still in place, despite the approval of a state constitutional amendment declaring a right to abortion. The article also shared a loophole in the law to help abortionists kill babies with Down syndrome without repercussions.

Though the pro-abortion amendment took effect in December 2023, there are some pro-life laws still on the books — though blocked by legal challenges — including a law ensuring parental permission for minors seeking an abortion, and a “heartbeat law” protecting preborn children beginning at about six weeks. The “heartbeat law” has been on hold due to a legal challenge. A 24-hour waiting period law is being challenged as well.

Ohio’s Attorney General David Yost said at the time that the amendment, known as Issue 1, was approved, that it would invalidate those pro-life laws. He’s fighting to keep them in place.

Meanwhile, the law protecting preborn children from abortion if they receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome is still active. House Bill 214 took effect in 2020 after getting tied up in court for years. Under the law, abortionists who kill a preborn child because the baby may have or has been diagnosed with Down syndrome would face a fourth-degree felony, up to 18 months in prison, a $15,000 fine, and the loss of their Ohio medical license.

Preterm-Cleveland, a well-known, dangerous abortion facility, attempted to stop the law, arguing that it forced women to keep babies they didn’t want. The abortion business argued that the law doesn’t expand anti-discrimination laws, provide education or job training for Ohioans with Down syndrome, or educate parents of children who have the condition.

Jessie Hill, an attorney for the pro-abortion groups behind the lawsuit, offered a solution, however. Hill said that if a woman is pregnant with a baby with Down syndrome and wants an abortion, she simply doesn’t have to tell the abortionist. Though her regular OB/GYN would know the truth, the abortionist wouldn’t — because, despite the pro-abortion claim that abortion “should be between a woman and her doctor,” the abortionist is a stranger to the woman. A very interesting admission.

“It depends on what the doctor knows about what the patient’s reason for the abortion is. So if a patient gets a positive test and then goes to a clinic and doesn’t mention it, as long as there’s no other reason why the clinic would know that, it’s not illegal for the patient to seek the abortion or the doctor to provide it,” Hill said.

Coaxing women to lie to protect the abortionist

Hill is proving that the abortion industry is built on lies. According to Hill, the industry now expects women to lie to protect abortionists. The abortion industry has already been asking women who take the abortion pill to lie to emergency room doctors when they suffer serious complications, potentially altering the course of treatment.

And because no state allows for the prosecution of women who obtain abortions, the only one the woman is protecting by lying is the abortion provider, whether a doctor, nurse practitioner, or even some sort of mail-order service.

It’s clear that what’s most important to abortionists is abortion sales, and they will exploit a woman’s shame and grief over abortion to protect themselves.

An act of eugenics

Targeting children for abortion due to any diagnosis is an act of eugenics, reminiscent of Nazi tactics aimed at weeding out humans deemed to be “life unworthy of life.” It’s discrimination, and it isn’t good for their mothers, either. PerinatalHospice.org explained, “[T]here is no research to support the popular assumption that terminating a pregnancy with fetal anomalies is easier on the mother psychologically.” On the contrary, research has shown that carrying a child to term following a life-limiting diagnosis is beneficial for the mental health of the parents, specifically the mother.

A study in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis stated, “Women who terminated [following prenatal diagnosis] reported significantly more despair, avoidance, and depression than women who continued the pregnancy.” It also noted that there “appears to be a psychological benefit to women to continue the pregnancy…”

Resources already exist

It is absurd to claim that a law prohibiting the targeted, direct, and intentional killing of preborn babies because they have Down syndrome must be blocked, simply because it doesn’t expand on other anti-discrimination laws to provide education and job training. It is an anti-discrimination law, and other programs already exist to help people with Down syndrome and their families.

Ohio has more than 10 associations dedicated to helping people with Down syndrome and their caregivers. The Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Ohio offers a job training program, and there is also the “Improving Equity and Access for Quality CTE Programs for Students with Disabilities.” Ohio’s government also offers the “Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities” program.

Ohio’s pro-life law was created to ensure that children with Down syndrome are not killed by abortion before they can access these programs, or before their parents can be educated about Down syndrome.

Nancy Flanders is an author and Associate Editor at Live Action