COLUMBUS – As the Ohio General Assembly considers the Heartbeat Bill, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a sweeping ruling today protecting Ohio tax dollars from flowing to abortion providers.
In an 11-to-6 decision, today’s ruling overturned a lower court ruling that had declared a 2016 law unconstitutional because it barred organizations from receiving public funds to perform abortions.
According to the opinion written by Judge Jeffrey Sutton, “Two Planned Parenthood affiliates challenged the [2016] statute, claiming that it imposes an unconstitutional condition on public funding in violation of the Due Process Clause. The affiliates are correct that the Ohio law imposes a condition on the continued receipt of state funds. But that condition does not violate the Constitution because the affiliates do not have a due process right to perform abortions.”
In other words, the state has the right to decide the parameters for who gets public funding and there is no such thing as a right to perform abortions.
Trump appointees Amul Thapar, John K. Bush, Joan Larsen and John B. Nalbandian joined the majority. Judge Helene White, appointed by George W. Bush, wrote the dissent,
Aaron Baer, Citizens for Community Values
“Elections have consequences. Because Ohioans elected a president and Senate who appoints judges that uphold the law, instead of playing politics with the law, millions of Ohio tax dollars will not go to abortion providers.”
“Elections have consequences,” said Aaron Baer, President of Citizens for Community Values. “Because Ohioans elected a president and Senate who appoints judges that uphold the law, instead of playing politics with the law, millions of Ohio tax dollars will not go to abortion providers.”
Ohioans also elected Governor DeWine, who told The Dispatch, “We’ve always felt the state had the right to set policy on who is funded and who is not funded. I’m pleased with the decision.”
Ohio’s 2016 law, signed by then-Gov. John Kasich, was enacted in the wake of investigative videos showing Texas Planned Parenthood employees discussing the illegal sale of fetal tissue,
The ruling by the second highest court in the land will also impact Kentucky, Michigan,and Tennessee which are in the 6th Circuit’s jurisdiction.
Editor’s Note: Article was updated on March 18, 2019
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