COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥 The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the state鈥檚 challenge to a judge鈥檚 order that has blocked enforcement of Ohio's near-ban on abortions for the past 14 months.
The ruling moves action in the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas, where abortion clinics asked Judge Christian Jenkins this week to throw out the law following voters' decision to approve enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
The high court on Friday said the appeal was 鈥 .鈥
The justices in March agreed to review that blocked enforcement of the abortion restriction and to consider whether clinics had legal standing to challenge the law. They ultimately denied Republican Attorney General Dave Yost鈥檚 of the constitutional right to abortion, leaving such arguments for a lower court.
The clinics to block the abortion ban permanently on the heels of the amendment Ohio voters approved last month that ensures access to abortion and other reproductive health care.
A law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibited most abortions after the first detectable 鈥渇etal heartbeat.鈥 Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The ban, initially blocked through a federal legal challenge, briefly went into effect when the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned last year. It was then placed back on hold in county court, as part of a subsequent lawsuit challenging it as unconstitutional under the state constitution.
Yost's office referred to a statement from Dec. 7 that 鈥渢he state is prepared to acknowledge the will of the people on the issue, but also to carefully review each part of the law for an orderly resolution of the case.鈥
The abortion providers asked the lower court that initially blocked the ban to permanently strike it down. They cited Yost鈥檚 own legal analysis, circulated before the vote, that stated that passage of the amendment would invalidate the state鈥檚 six-week ban, stating, 鈥淥hio would no longer have the ability to limit abortions at any time before a fetus is viable.鈥
