Ohio state lawmakers introduce bill to ban all abortions

A bill has been introduced in the Ohio state House of Representatives that would ban all abortions in the state.

Two Republican lawmakers introduced the legislation, which would block women from receiving abortions even when a mother’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest, Cleveland.com reported.

Rep. Ron Hood (R), a sponsor of the bill, said he believes life begins at conception.

{mosads}”The goal of this bill is to first of all continue to get the word out that life does begin at conception and move the debate in that direction, and to protect unborn Ohioans from being aborted,” Hood said.

Rep. Nino Vitale (R), another sponsor, said that women who are raped and become pregnant sometimes regret getting an abortion.

“Life isn’t always giving us things by our choice and I don’t want to put a woman through a second trauma after she’s been through such an awful first one,” Vitale said.

Under the bill, a woman who gets an abortion could be charged with a crime.

Kellie Copeland, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio executive director, said in a statement that “anti-choice extremists from the Ohio Statehouse to the White House are lining up their dominoes to topple Roe v. Wade and punish those who seek or provide abortion care.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Ohio temporarily blocked a law from going into effect that would ban abortions on the basis of Down syndrome.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Black wrote the ban is unconstitutional.

The law, signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) in December, would ban abortions if a Down syndrome diagnosis was one of the reasons a woman sought the procedure.