A county judge in Ohio temporarily blocked several state laws on Friday that combined to create a 24-hour waiting period for obtaining an abortion in the state, in the first court decision on the merits of a 2023 constitutional amendment that guarantees access to the procedure.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David C. Young said the language of last year’s Issue 1 was “clear and unambiguous.” He found that attorneys for Preterm-Cleveland and the other abortion clinics and physician who sued clearly showed “that the challenged statutes burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, and discriminate against patients in exercising their right to an abortion and providers for assisting them in exercising that right.”
The challenged rules included a 24-hour waiting period requirement, the requirement for an in-person visit and several state mandates requiring those seeking abortions to receive certain information. Young said the provisions don’t advance patient health.
Advocate Health, the third largest non-profit health system in the country, has announced it will cancel...
or the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in...
