COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥 Groups advocating for professional social workers and abortion rights said they have succeeded in forcing a small Ohio city to significantly narrow its ban on conducting or recommending abortions and so have ended their legal challenge.
by the 春色直播 Association of Social Workers and the Abortion Fund of Ohio argued that the law, , represented an 鈥渆xtraordinarily broad鈥 infringement on the constitutional rights of due process and free speech. The groups' lawyers at the ACLU of Ohio and Democracy Forward further alleged the ban violated Ohio鈥檚 home-rule provisions.
The city of Lebanon, in southwest Ohio, opted to revise the law rather than defend it in court. Enforcement had been placed on hold while that work took place.
Opponents said they dropped their lawsuit Jan. 12 after provisions were removed that made aiding and abetting an abortion a crime, and the law was further clarified to assure that providing transportation, instructions, money or abortion doula services, including counseling, were still allowed.
Lebanon鈥檚 ban was one of four that cropped up around Ohio in 2021, part of a national effort to ban abortion 鈥渙ne city at a time鈥 by the Texas-based Sanctuary Cities of the Unborn organization overseen by Mark Lee Dickson.
It was the first local ban to be challenged nationally after revealed the U.S. Supreme Court planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. The court's energized abortion opponents' state and local efforts to outlaw the procedure.
鈥淭his litigation exposes local ordinance bans as dangerous acts of political theater, and our lawsuit demanded accountability for the logistical and legal nightmare Lebanon鈥檚 City Council created," Maggie Scotece, interim executive director of the abortion fund, formerly Women Have Options-Ohio, said in a statement. "This win is so unique in the context of our post-Dobbs legal landscape, establishing a strong, united front against these heinous attacks.鈥
Dickson, a Southern Baptist minister who also directs Right to Life East Texas, said the revisions to Lebanon's ban were of little consequence to the underlying goal of the law: outlawing abortion in the city of about 20,000 beginning at conception.
鈥淎bortion remains illegal in Lebanon, so this is a great victory for Ohio,鈥 Dickson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 worth pointing out that the opposition claims that we were doing more than we were actually doing. The fact that we clarified our position does not take away from the abortion ban.鈥
The Ohio opponent groups argued that, despite Lebanon having no abortion clinics, the sweeping ban appeared to require social workers not to discuss abortion when counseling pregnant clients, in 鈥渃onflict with social workers鈥 ethical obligation to promote the client鈥檚 self-determination.鈥
The social workers鈥 association took the position that reproductive freedom is a human right.
According to the Texas anti-abortion group鈥檚 website, 65 cities and two counties across the U.S. have so far passed similar abortion bans. Dickson said the group will continue its work this year in New Mexico, where the Democratic attorney general has , as well attempt new inroads in Nebraska, Kansas and California.
鈥淭here is still a lot to do, even though Roe has been overturned, to promote abortion-free communities,鈥 he said.
A federal judge has placed Ohio's statewide ban on most abortions as a constitutional challenge is heard. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has to block the federal judge's order.
