AG Dave Yost appeals ruling that overturned Ohio’s most restrictive abortion ban

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing a ruling that Permanently overturning Ohio’s most restrictive abortion ban and other abortion regulations.

The notice of appeal, filed Friday, hints at what Yost’s office will challenge: whether a challenge to Ohio’s ban on most abortions allows a judge to block other restrictions and policies on abortion without further examination?

In October, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins permanently struck down an Ohio law that required doctors to check heart activity before performing an abortion. Those who did not follow this protocol faced criminal charges and loss of their medical license.

He based this decision on a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2023 which protects access to abortion and other reproductive decisions. “The voters of Ohio have spoken. The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion,” Jenkins wrote.

But Jenkins’ order also blocked requirements to check embryonic or fetal heart activity and to inform patients of the likelihood of carrying the pregnancy to term, among other abortion regulations.

The state argued that these other aspects of the law should remain “intact.” The attorneys who filed suit against the ban did not specifically challenge those parts of the law, the Ohio attorney general’s office claimed.

The First District Court of Appeal, which covers Hamilton County, will review the case. Yost’s office hasn’t asked to speed things up. All abortion-related challenges will ultimately end up in the Ohio Supreme Court, where Republicans will hold a 6-1 majority starting next year.

Appeal in abortion case by Jessie Balmert on Scribd

Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the Ohio bureau of the USA TODAY Network, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across the Ohio.

This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to appeal abortion ban case