SB 155 – Abortion Pill Reversal
Abortion advocates have been touting the “devastating” results of a California-based research project which is purported to show the Abortion Pill Reversal procedure being dangerous to women. Now that the data has been more closely examined, it actually shows two things: 1. The research project was tainted and 2. Progesterone actually may have a protective effect on the women (as well as the unborn child being attacked with mifepristone). Senate Bill 155 should be getting hearings in the House when they reconvene at the end of the month. Now that this bogus study has been debunked, wonder what non-scientific arguments pro-aborts will use next?
From Friday 5 – January 10, 2020
The senate acted on two pieces of Pro-Life legislation this week, passing both SB 155 (Abortion Pill Reversal) and SB 208 (Born Alive After Abortion Infant Protection) with large majorities. These bills were reported from the Senate Health, Human Services, & Medicaid Committee on mainly party-line votes (with notable exception of Republican Senator Stephanie Kunze of Hilliard, who voted against SB 155 both in committee and on the Senate floor). Two amendments, offered by the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, were adopted into SB 155. The first amendment ensures the website address for the Ohio Department of Health (who is tasked with maintaining info on APR protocols and providers) is given to the woman, and the second raises the legal standard from “believes” (subjective and legally fungible) to “using reasonable medical judgment” (objective and legally actionable) for a provider to determine an emergency exists that would excuse them from penalties for not providing the APR information to a woman. The final votes for SB 155 were 22 in favor and 10 against; votes for SB 208 were 24 in favor and nine against. Both bills move to the Ohio House for assignment to committee and hearings.
From Friday 5 – November 8, 2019
The Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee has scheduled hearings with potential votes on both SB 155/Abortion Pill Reversal and SB 208/Born Alive After Abortion Infant Protection Act. Both bills are scheduled for open testimony (proponents, opponents, and interested parties), and SB 155 is marked for potential amendments (we have offered two to the bill’s sponsor and will see if they are included). If you are interested in attending, testifying, or submitting written comments, please contact me by the weekend. The committee meets on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Senate South Hearing room.
From Friday 5 – November 1, 2019
Opponents received a chance to testify on Senate Bill 155 this week. It is fairly obvious that they either can’t understand, or don’t want to try to understand that SB 155 only requires information be given to an abortion-minded woman (in regarding therapy that can reverse a chemical (or medical) abortion if undertaken in the approximately 72 hour period between the administration of the first chemical (RU-486) and the second (misoprostol). To hear their version, one would think the bill requires an abortion provider to keep large doses of progesterone on hand to administer it to a woman who changes her mind during the three-day procedure to abort her child. Hmmm…
From Friday 5 – October 25, 2019
It was a busy week at the Ohio Statehouse. The Senate Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee held the second hearing on Senate Bill 155, the bill to give information to women seeking abortion about the possibility of reversing a chemical abortion procedure in process. I had the pleasure of testifying first on this bill, and was, to put it politely, interrogated by pro-abortion members of the committee arguing that since the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology nor the American Medical Association (both trade organizations, not medical standards boards) didn’t recognize the therapy of using large doses of progesterone (a hormone produced during pregnancy to support the healthy development of a child), then it was “junk science” or “pseudoscience” even though over 900 procedures have been done, with a significant success rate. Their arguments didn’t prevail. Next week, the pro-abortion forces will be testifying against Senate Bill 155.
From Friday 5 – October 18, 2019
Next Tuesday, the Ohio Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee will be hearing proponent testimony on two Pro-Life bills (the committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. in the Senate South Hearing Room). Senate Bill 155 seeks to establish protocols for providing information on reversing chemical abortions (abortion pill reversal) which are begun but the woman changes her mind in the middle of the abortion process. Senate Bill 208 would establish State-level penalties for providers who botch an abortion procedure and then allow the born-alive infant to die without care (or worse yet, like in the case of Kermit Gosnell, perform a “post-birth” abortion). Anyone wishing to testify or submit written testimony must file this with the chairman’s office by 1:00 p.m. on Monday, October 14th.
From Friday 5 – October 11, 2019
Senate Bill 155, to add Informed Consent provisions prior to an abortion, which would notify women there is a possibility to reverse a mifepristone (RU-486) abortion procedure before it is completed, had its first hearing this week in the Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee. As expected, pro-abortion legislators criticized the bill with “it will cause doctors to leave Ohio” canard. If a so-called doctor won’t give a woman full information on her choices including that a chemical abortion can be reversed and a baby’s life saved, if done in time, then let me be the first to show that charlatan the “out” door.
From Friday 5 – September 20, 2019
The Ohio General Assembly is gearing up again after the summer recess. This week, a sponsor hearing was given to HB 184 in the House Health Committee. This is Rep. Michelle Lepore-Hagan’s Bill to require so-called “Comprehensive” Sex Education (read condoms and Planned Parenthood) in schools, and requiring hospitals to provide “emergency contraception” and require pharmacies to dispense birth control. It is not likely that the committee will move forward on this measure. Next week (Wednesday), there will be sponsor testimony in the Senate Health Committee on Senate Bill 155 to add to the informed consent provisions prior to an abortion which would notify women that there is a possibility to reverse a mifepristone (RU-486) abortion procedure before it is completed.
From Friday 5 – September 13, 2019