A federal judge has ruled a new state law that would ban abortion after a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome is unconstitutional, and has blocked it a little more than a week before it was to go into effect.
Ohio would have been the third state with a Down syndrome abortion ban. But U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black writes that federal law is crystal clear that a state may not prohibit a woman from deciding to terminate a pregnancy before viability. In a statement, pro-choice groups said they鈥檙e committed to stopping the law, which they say would interfere with the trust between women and doctors and open the door to further intrusion by politicians into personal health decisions. Ohio Right to Life said in a statement that the court prioritized 鈥渁bortion-on-demand鈥� over special needs children, but that it鈥檚 pleased that pro-life Attorney General Mike DeWine will fiercely defend the law.
