House GOP vote set to restore 24-hour waiting period for abortions

State Republicans are getting ready to pass Ohio’s first new restrictions on abortion since voters approved a sweeping abortion rights amendment in 2023.

The House Health Committee on Wednesday voted to advance House Bill 347, which would require patients to consult with a doctor at least 24 hours before getting an abortion. The full House could approve the bill as soon as next week, according to Speaker Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican.

The proposal follows a couple of other bills passed by the House in recent months that oppose abortion in a more indirect manner. One would require patients seeking the “abortion pill,” along with certain other medications, to physically visit a doctor first. The other requires schools to show students grades 5-12 a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion advocacy group.

If HB 347 clears the House, it would need approval from the Senate before heading to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for his signature. If signed into law, it would almost certainly face a legal challenge. The other two bills are similarly awaiting action in the Senate.

HB 347 closely mirrors Ohio’s existing 24-hour waiting period law, which a Franklin County judge blocked in 2024 after finding it likely violated the abortion rights amendment approved by voters. The constitution now states that no law shall “directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, or interfere” with the right to make one’s own reproductive decisions.

In his ruling, Judge David Young, a Democrat, found the law illegally burdened those seeking an abortion by requiring them to visit a doctor’s office 24 hours in advance. The case is ongoing and the judge hasn’t yet issued a final ruling.

Huffman told reporters Wednesday he doesn’t think HB 347 defies the will of the 57% of Ohioans who approved the amendment in 2023. Asked about the pending court case, he said a judge in one county shouldn’t get to influence policy for the entire state.

“If somebody wants to get an abortion, this isn’t going to stop them or really even delay them,” Huffman said.

Abortion opponents also argue more generally that the 2023 amendment presented voters with a binary and didn’t reflect the nuanced opinions they may actually have on the issue.

Abortion-rights supporters said HB 347 requires the state to give inaccurate information to patients about the risks of abortion and said the new bill is just as big of an impediment as the existing law blocked by the court. Jaime Miracle, deputy director of Abortion Forward, said voters understood the 24-hour waiting period likely would be struck down if the amendment was approved, since Republican Attorney General Dave Yost said so at the time.

“Ohio has a lot of serious problems and Ohioans want their legislators to be working on those, not restricting their access to health care,” Miracle said.

Trump move on abortion pill lawsuits draws muted response from Ohio groups

In other abortion-related news, the Trump administration recently disappointed abortion opponents by asking federal judges to dismiss separate lawsuits challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, AKA the “abortion pill,” filed by several Republican states.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the United States’ main anti-abortion advocacy groups, this week called it a “slap in the face to red state allies everywhere.”  

But Ohio’s two primary anti-abortion groups have been more muted in their comments.

In response to our inquiry, Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Carrie Snyder issued a statement saying the organization supports, at the very least, rolling back FDA approval that allows the abortion pill to be prescribed via a telemedicine visit. The statement did not directly criticize the Trump administration. 

“We join SBA Pro-Life America in calling for the FDA to reinstate the commonsense restrictions that originally existed with abortion-inducing drugs,” Snyder said.

The Center for Christian Virtue hasn’t commented recently on the FDA lawsuits and didn’t return messages for this story. It previously urged the FDA to completely revoke approval for the abortion pill. 

Waiting around in Akron 

Meanwhile, Jake is in Akron, waiting on 12 jurors to return a verdict on charges that could send ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and ex-senior vice president Mike Dowling to prison on a slate of bribery-related charges for paying off a senior regulator overseeing the utility industry. 

The stakes are enormous. An ex-Speaker of the Ohio House is already in prison. FirstEnergy as a corporation has already essentially admitted to two separate bribery schemes and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. Federal charges linger against both Jones and Dowling, and company investors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are seeking hundreds of millions in damages. 

And yet, an acquittal could render the two men innocent of all charges, leaving the rest of us squinting to make sense of what’s known as the biggest bribery scandal in state history. 

Judge Susan Baker Ross dispatched the jury around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. No one knows what the jury will say or how long it will take them to say it. Until then, I and the other carpet baggers hanging around the city for a ruling will be twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the phone to ring. Sources tell me to check out Luigi’s for pizza, DeVitis Italian Market for meatballs, or the Diamond Grille, to drink like a true FirstEnergy executive. 

The jury asked a question

By the way, the waiting around paid off. After some back and forth with Ross, her law clerk, and her bailiff, the court agreed to provide a question from the jury and answer from the judge, which Ross at first refused to share with reporters. 

The jurors asked if Ohio’s bribery law still applies “if that public servant had not yet applied [for the job] to be a public servant.”

It’s a critical question. Jones and Dowling sent $4.3 million, the alleged bribe, in December 2018, before Sam Randazzo had formally applied to become the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. 

The judge wrote back to say that this is “for you [the jury] to decide as a factual matter.”

Veto override vote on data center tax stalls?

Huffman, the Ohio House speaker, has previously said the House plans to vote sometime this month to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s summertime veto of a law rescinding Ohio’s tax credit for data centers.

Huffman said Wednesday that he’s not sure if – or when – the override vote will actually happen. 

“We all know Mike Tyson’s version of what a plan is,” Huffman said. “The question is, are there … 60 people in their seats in session who are willing to vote for that? Some members don’t want to say.”

Huffman referenced the 60 votes required to override a veto in the House. Republicans, meanwhile, control 65 seats. 

They hypothetically could get the override done with Democratic help. 

But House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn didn’t seem eager on Wednesday to get involved.

Isaacsohn, who’s hinted he may support the tax credit because of the data center boom’s positive effects on the construction industry, dodged several questions trying to pin down whether Democrats might lend a hand. 

“In my experience, it’s very rare for bills to come to the floor that don’t have enough votes to pass just from the majority,” he said.

The legislature is running out of time if it wants to hold the vote before the primary election on May 5. The House has one more session scheduled for next Wednesday before starting its spring break.

Ohio Republicans preemptively strike on ranked choice voting

Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 63, which prohibits the use of a ranked choice election voting system in Ohio and financially penalizes any local governments that implement one.

No Ohio communities use ranked choice voting, but some have considered it. Supporters say ranked choice voting helps elevate candidates with broader support, at the expense of more extreme candidates. Opponents call it confusing and unwieldy to administer.

DeWine didn’t issue any statement Tuesday. But he supported it, as he has other Republican-backed measures to restrict voting rights in Ohio. Those include stricter voter identification requirements, bans on supposed foreign contributions to Ohio ballot issues, and a failed campaign to make citizen-backed referendums harder to propose and pass in Ohio.

Ohio Municipal League Executive Director Kent Scarrett said he was disappointed by the ban on ranked choice voting and concerned about the state withholding funds for critical services as “leverage” over local policy choices.

“The best decisions about local governance should be made at the local level – by the communities and leaders closest to the people they serve,” he said. “Establishing a precedent where state funding can be cut off when local officials make decisions that state officeholders may not agree with is concerning and undermines that principle.”

In the news

Up in smoke: A hemp industry-backed effort to repeal a new state law that bans intoxicating hemp while passing new marijuana-related criminal penalties has failed. As Andrew Tobias writes, Ohioans for Cannabis Choice announced Wednesday that it hadn’t collected enough signatures before a deadline on Thursday required to put the measure up for a statewide vote in November. 

Heating up: Vivek Ramaswamy told supporters in suburban Cincinnati last weekend that the preseason is over when it comes to the governor’s race. Andrew joined Ramaswamy on the campaign trail, asking him about property taxes and other issues, a few days after Ramaswamy announced a $10 million ad campaign. Meanwhile, polls and betting markets show a competitive race against likely Democratic nominee Dr. Amy Acton. 

After all these years: Twelve jurors will consider the fate of two ex-FirstEnergy executives, whose alleged public corruption campaign has cast an ugly shadow over the Ohio Statehouse in the five years since the FBI raided a top state regulator’s home. 

The big one: Egypt Valley Wildlife Area could become Ohio’s biggest fracking site on public land, now that state officials have already opened 4,400 acres of the preserve to the gas industry and are considering a request for another 8,300.