Tagged: Abortion

Bill Cohen from Ohio Public Radio joins Emily McCord for PoliticsOhio to discuss the Quinnipiac poll results from this week. Cohen reports that Ohioans fall along party lines regarding support for the so-called "heartbeat bill". Another poll finds that Ohioans overwhelmingly support natural oil and gas drilling for economic reasons over the environment, yet they do want a moratorium on fracking. Cohen addresses the possible reasons behind Governor Kasich's announcement to hold to State of the State address outside of the statehouse.

The Quinnipiac University poll poses this: There’s a bill before the state legislature that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually 6 to 8 weeks into pregnancy.  Do you support or oppose this bill?  Forty five percent of Ohioans say they support it and 46 percent say they oppose it. 

Backers of the proposed bill that would outlaw abortion in Ohio at the point where a fetal heartbeat could be detected are trying a new tactic to get state senators to move the bill forward. They brought young children to the Statehouse and gave them teddy bears that made the sound of a fetal heartbeat. The children then took those bears to Senators who are considering the so called heartbeat bill. One of its major backers, Janet Folger Porter, said she thinks the group’s efforts are working.

The sponsor of an Ohio bill that would impose the nation's most stringent abortion limit has taken responsibility for some confusion over proposed changes to the measure that caused hearings on the bill to be suspended last month.

A Dec. 15 letter written by state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann sheds new light on the sudden hold that was put on the divisive legislation dubbed the "heartbeat bill." The measure cleared the Ohio House in June. Backers had believed it was headed toward passage in the Senate before the holiday break.