Access to Abortion in Ohio Continues During Covid-19 Pandemic
In coalition with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, a preliminary injunction was won to enjoin the Ohio Department of Health from applying restrictions on “non-essential” surgical abortions.
This coalition of Ohio clinics filed for a preliminary injunction in order to protect the health and safety of women seeking abortions in Ohio during the pandemic and to allow doctors to exercise their appropriate judgment without fear of ODH interference.
Background
On March 17, 2020, the Director of the Ohio Department of Health ordered non-essential medical procedures and surgery to stop. ODH sent several abortion providers a cease-and-desist letter and then inspected abortion clinics without ever providing the results. These actions caused the providers to seek protection from the Court. Alphonse Gerhardstein and Jennifer Branch have fought for several decades against shameful government actions that intrude on a woman’s right to choose and politicize reproductive healthcare.
Approach & Resolution
Several abortion providers asked the court to allow their physicians to make case by case determinations when a surgical abortion is essential. With the preliminary injunction in place, medication abortions (before 10 weeks) and surgical abortions will continue in Ohio. The Court made clear that is up to physicians to make “case-by-case determinations that a surgical abortion is essential when the procedure is necessary because of the timing vis-a-vis previability; to protect the patient’s health or life; and due to medical reasons (which implicate undue risk to the current or future health of the patient and the gestational age of the fetus, as determined by the physician, as it relates to the increased risk of the procedure as the pregnancy progresses).”