Ohio governor Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he will “absolutely” sign legislation banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
Dewine, a Republican elected in November, told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he welcomes the legal challenge that dissuaded his predecessor, John Kasich, from agreeing to sign the bill.
“We will do this. I just saw the headline, a court struck down another heartbeat bill for another state. But ultimately, Hugh, you and I both know that this thing once it’s passed in Ohio, once we sign it, once it becomes law, Planned Parenthood is going to be in the next day, or that day, filing a lawsuit,” DeWine told Hewitt. “But ultimately, this will work its way up to the United States Supreme Court. And they’ll make that decision.”
A fetal heartbeat can often be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, which would make the Ohio bill the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
Kasich, who has become a CNN contributor after leaving office due to term limits, argued that the heartbeat bill would likely be struck down as unconstitutional following a protracted legal battle that would cost the state hundreds of thousands in public funds.
“The central provision of (the bill), that an abortion cannot be performed if a heartbeat has been detected in the unborn child, is contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States’ current rulings on abortion,” Kasich said in a statement announcing his veto, according to WKYC.
The Ohio Senate fell just one vote short of overriding Kasich’s veto.
Kasich did, however, sign a separate law before leaving office that bans a popular surgical abortion technique known as dilation and evacuation, which is commonly used between the 13th and 24th weeks of pregnancy.