A bill to ban abortion introduced in the Ohio state legislature requires doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy” into a woman’s uterus – a procedure that does not exist in medical science – or face charges of “abortion murder”.
This is the second time practising obstetricians and gynecologists have tried to tell the Ohio legislators that the idea is currently medically impossible.
The move comes amid a wave of increasingly severe anti-abortion bills introduced across much of the country as conservative Republican politicians seek to ban abortion and force a legal showdown on abortion with the supreme court.
Ohio’s move on ectopic pregnancies – where an embryo implants on the mother’s fallopian tube rather than her uterus rendering the pregnancy unviable – is one of the most extreme bills to date.
“I don’t believe I’m typing this again but, that’s impossible,” wrote Ohio obstetrician and gynecologist Dr David Hackney on Twitter. “We’ll all be going to jail,” he said.
An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition, which can kill a woman if the embryonic tissue grows unchecked.
It also appears to punish doctors, women and children as young as 13 with “abortion murder” if they “perform or have an abortion”. This crime is punishable by life in prison. Another new crime, “aggravated abortion murder”, is punishable by death, according to the bill.
….
“There is no procedure to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy,” said Dr Chris Zahn, vice-president of practice activities at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. “It is not possible to move an ectopic pregnancy from a fallopian tube, or anywhere else it might have implanted, to the uterus,” he said.
“Reimplantation is not physiologically possible. Women with ectopic pregnancies are at risk for catastrophic hemorrhage and death in the setting of an ectopic pregnancy, and treating the ectopic pregnancy can certainly save a mom’s life,” said Zahn.
— Jessica Glenza, The Guardian, Ohio bill orders doctors to ‘reimplant ectopic pregnancy’ or face ‘abortion murder’ charges, , November 29, 2019
What a nightmare. Who are these people?
I’d love for American Atheists, or the like, to bring an action against these politicians, perhaps along the lines of ‘conduct unbefitting to public office’. Obviously the law cannot possibly come into force, simply because politicians can’t bring about an impossible medical procedure, but it’s frightening to think of the unrestrained hatred from which these people are suffering. They belong in a mental asylum, not a government office.
Ohio seems to want to be #1 rated for whack-job ideas! This latest absurdity demonstrates that Belief is practiced in order to destroy human reason, to mock Science and to reimpose barbaric ideas about women: Who cares if a woman dies! Wht matters is Gawd’s embryo attached in a fallopian tube just where Gawd put it! Are you smarter than Gawwwwd???
You know, whenever I hear this kind of coo-coo coming out of Ohio, I am reminded of Neil Young’s Ohio, a response to the 1970 murders at Kent State, American soldiers shooting American students protesting.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
The soldiers of fundamentalist jesus have loaded their weapons of hate and are more than happy to serve their vicious God by demeaning humanity, destroying human rights and freedoms, hating women while calling that hatred ultimate love defined by their preacher with his KJV.
When will we get informed about the deadly realities of Belief and just how much tax-free harm has been done already… What would you do if you found her dead on the ground?, Young asks us. The Vietnam War is over but America’s endless war still goes on. Fundamentalist evangelical Christianity is a virus and Ohio politicians promoting such nonsense make me think there must be something terribly, awfully wrong with the water there.
What a nightmare of ignorance based dogma.
You can thank ignoramuses like Butler County’s Candice Keller for supporting scientifically ignorant legislation like this. Keller also blamed Democrats, “hate for veterans,” video games, and “drag queens” for the Dayton shooting . Sadly, the voters will continue supporting her toxic brand of politics for some time to come.
Sad for my home state; glad I moved away long ago.
I say you need a law in Ohio that makes birth control retroactive. Then, y’all can vote and get rid of the idiots that way.
The idea has merits. Don’t scoff.
Christians have totally gone insane. They have become a laughing stock to normal Americans
These are the extreme right, fundamentalist stripe of Christian. Yes, they’re nuts–but they do know that ectopic pregnancies can’t be re-implanted, because they’ve been told repeatedly that it’s impossible. This is more of the anti-abortion, anti-choice, anti-woman rhetoric that they get off on, and signal their virtue to other extremists of the same sort.
Not that it isn’t stupid and dangerous, because it is. If this idiocy passes into law, Ohio women with ectopic pregnancies may die before the law can be overturned. I hope Ohio demonstrates better sense.
I’ve seen it pointed out on Twitter how anti-woman these laws are. You never see a law punishing men for ejaculating in ways that don’t have a chance in impregnating a woman (unless they are gay.)
This movement was never about saving babies. It is about destroying women and keeping them down for good. I hope no one dies from this law, but if the worst happens, I hope the family sues the hell out of the state government.
I agree to the comment policy.
What are they supposed to do, stick it into the uterus with super glue? Embryos attach when still only a cell or two in size; no exceptions.
Read the bill. I did. I’m not convinced the media are getting this one right.
Sarah, I’ve just read the relevant part of the bill, Sec 2904.35 (c), as referred to in the Guardian article above, and it seems fairly clear.
Seems clear to me:
Sec. 2904.35. “A physician who does all of the following is not subject to criminal prosecution, damages in any civil action, or professional disciplinary action, for a violation of this chapter:
A) using reasonable medical judgment, believes it is highly probable that the pregnant woman will die from a certain fatal condition before her unborn child is viable;
B) Performs a surgery, before the unborn child is viable, for the sole purpose of treating the pregnant woman’s fatal condition;
C) Takes all possible steps to preserve the life of the unborn child, while preserving the life of the woman. Such steps include, if applicable, attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus.”
I also did a search on the 723-page bill. The bill repeatedly talks about “abortion murder and “aggravated abortion murder,” crimes punishable by life in prison, and in some circumstances death. The media isn’t misrepresenting HB413 at all. It is an anti-abortionist’s wet dream; a brazen attempt to codify the “rights” of fertilized eggs.