COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich has again vetoed a bill that would ban abortion when a heartbeat is detected, opining that the State would likely lose if the matter went to court and taxpayer money would consequently have to be used to pay the legal costs of abortion-supporting attorneys.
“As governor, I have worked hard to strengthen Ohio’s protections for the sanctity of human life, and I have a deep respect for my fellow members of the pro-life community and their ongoing efforts in defense of unborn life,” Kasich wrote in his veto explanation. “However, the central provision of H.B. 258, that an abortion cannot be performed if a heartbeat has been detected in the unborn child, is contrary to the Supreme Court rulings on abortion.”
“Because the lower federal courts are bound to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s precedents on abortion, H.B. 258 will likely be struck down as unconstitutional. The State of Ohio will be the losing party in that lawsuit, and as the losing party, the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists’ lawyers,” he outlined. “Therefore, this veto is in the public interest.”
As previously reported, the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.B. 258 last month 60-35, followed by the Senate earlier this month 18-13.
“A person who intends to perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman shall determine whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat of the unborn human individual the pregnant woman is carrying,” the bill read in part. “The person who performs the examination for the presence of a fetal heartbeat shall give the pregnant woman the option to view or hear the fetal heartbeat.”
Fetal development experts estimate that an infant’s heart begins beating just 20-25 days after conception, and machines can detect the heartbeat 2-3 weeks later. It is stated that most women don’t know they are pregnant until after after the baby’s heart is already beating.
Kasich vetoed a similar bill in 2016 for identical reasons, using verbatim language that “the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists’ lawyers.”
While Kasich rejected the heartbeat bill again this year, he did sign legislation that bans dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions, also known as “dismemberment abortions.”
The common second-trimester abortion method involves ripping the baby apart piece by piece in the womb, and arranging his or her body parts on a tray so as to ensure that nothing was left behind.
The bill does not ban abortion, but prohibits that particular method from being used to kill the baby.
2 Kings 21:16 reads, “Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Proverbs 6:16-19 outlines that God hates “hands that shed innocent blood.”
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