Abortion ban appears dead; Pro and con emotions aired in hearing
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JON CRAIG AND ALLISON D'AURORA | ENQUIRER COLUMBUS BUREAU COLUMBUS - Amid tears, hisses and prayers, a bill that would ban abortion in Ohio got its first and, legislative leaders say, last hearing on Tuesday. More than 200 people, mostly supporters of abortion rights, crowded a Statehouse hearing room and overflowed into an atrium downstairs for the opening hearing on a bill to ban abortion in Ohio. Unlike a state ban passed in February by South Dakota lawmakers, this bill is not expected to pass.
ADVERTISEMENT Only two panels each of pro- and anti-abortion speakers got a chance to testify during six hours of hearings. In fact, so many people signed up to testify against the bill that 60 witnesses were turned away when the hearing ended abruptly at 5 p.m. Women who had illegal - and legal - abortions described horrendous pain and decades of trauma caused by their decisions, moving some people to tears in the audience. Elizabeth Klein of Columbus, who is now opposed to abortion, said medical staff in Florida refused to let her change her mind as they vacuumed the fetus out of her cervix. Klein, who was accompanied at Tuesday's hearing by her only child, blamed two subsequent miscarriages on the botched abortion. And at a rally preceding Tuesday's hearing, Taba Aleem, 58, of Akron described an illegal abortion she had in 1968. Aleem said a greasy mechanic demanded she pay him $50 and have sex with him just before he removed her fetus with a coat hanger. Aleem, who was 20 at the time, said she was not ready to be a mother and felt this procedure was her only choice. She suffered severe pain and developed a serious infection weeks later, she said, requiring emergency medical care. However, not much is expected to come of their testimony, at least this summer. Several members of the House Health Committee said it's unlikely legislators will vote on House Bill 228 this year. Rep. Tom Brinkman's bill is seen as a test case for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 33-year-old U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion. Tuesday, Brinkman offered to amend his bill - a move that could gain more support - but he was snubbed by House leaders and the committee chairman. "Abortion has harmed and will continue to harm tens of thousands of people in this state," the Republican from Mount Lookout testified. Brinkman's bill bans abortion in all cases, but doesn't punish doctors who unintentionally terminate a pregnancy while trying to save the life of the mother. The bill makes it a felony to perform an abortion or transport a woman across state lines to have an abortion. It might take three or four years for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, Brinkman said, but once it is, state legislators will have to decide what to do in Ohio. Rep. Michelle Schneider said it's more likely the House will take action this fall on her bill, House Bill 239, which prohibits public funding of abortions if federal law is overturned. Schneider, a Republican from Madeira, has 51 co-sponsors in the 99-member House. "My bill has a much better chance," Schneider said. "It's constitutional. Let's stay with reality, shall we?" Some testimony before the Health Committee drew hisses or chants of amen. Dr. John Willke of Cincinnati, who helped found the Right to Life movement in the early 1970s, said life begins at conception. To a lawmaker's question about supporting single mothers, Willke said poverty cannot be solved "by killing the children of the poor." Kathy Helmbock of Oakley, a member of the National Organization for Women since 1972, testified that "abortion should be safe, legal and rare.'' Helmbock asked legislators to pass House Bill 588, sponsored by Rep. Tyrone Yates, D-Evanston. Yates' bill would require insurance coverage for contraceptives and sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies. At the rally outside the Statehouse, Kellie Copeland, executive director of Naral Pro-Choice Ohio, said she fears the Republican-controlled General Assembly will pass an anti-abortion bill in the lame duck session that follows the Nov. 7 election if Democrat Ted Strickland is elected governor. "No one - not the legislators in this building, not our governor - no one, should play politics with women's health," Copeland said. "We're committed to stopping them."
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