Ohio House advances pre-abortion informed consent bill

Lawmakers in an Ohio House committee have advanced a bill to mandate a 24-waiting period and informed consent for women seeking an abortion in the state.

Key Takeaways:

• House Bill 347 would create a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory informed consent requirements for abortion-minded women.

• The bill would also require women to learn that "abortion pill reversal" is a possibility.

• A different law requiring a 24-hour waiting period is currently blocked by the courts as the result of a lawsuit.

• Waiting periods and informed consent requirements ensure a woman is given time to consider before receiving an abortion.

The Details:

House Bill 347 would require the abortionist to provide women with informed consent information at least 24 hours prior to an abortion; the consultation could take place in person, virtually, by email, or by phone.

The legislation spells out some of the information the woman must receive, requiring the Ohio Medical Board to create rules “specifying adverse physical or psychological conditions arising from abortion that a physician must disclose as possible complications when meeting with the pregnant (person) as part of the informed consent process.”

If the woman were receiving the abortion pill, the abortionist would also be required to inform her of the possibility of reversing the abortion through the "abortion pill reversal" process.

According to the Ohio Capital Journal, State Rep. Jennifer Gross previously said the legislation allows the pregnant woman “an opportunity to look at all the data,” in an environment that is "not coerced or rushed."

Abortion supporters, however, say it will create barriers to abortion access.

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“A state mandated 24-hour waiting period will harm patients by creating additional barriers to care and increasing costs of the procedure,” Abortion Forward Deputy Director Jaime Miracle said in a statement. “For anti-abortion members of this legislature, this is a feature not a flaw. The goal of this legislation is not to ensure informed consent. It is to make it harder for people to access the care they need.”

The bill passed the House Health Committee with a 9-3 vote on March 18.

Zoom Out:

Ohio had a different law mandating a 24-hour waiting period which was temporarily blocked by a judge as the result of a lawsuit in August 2024, after the state voted in favor of enshrining abortion as a constitutional right in November 2023.

The Ohio Capital Journal reports that the resolution of that lawsuit won't come until later this year.

Why it Matters:

Mandatory waiting periods and informed consent requirements are meant to ensure women are given time to consider what may be one of the most impactful decisions of their life.

Speaking in support of the bill, House Speaker Matt Huffman noted that informed consent is important to any major medical procedure:

“I think making sure that medical patients have information is very important.

I spent a large part of my legal career doing medical malpractice defense work, and one of the things we always had to look at is the informed consent sign.”

The Bottom Line:

If abortion advocates truly cared about a woman's "choice," it would stand to reason that they, too, would support informed consent requirements and waiting period laws. Opposition to this legislation shows the true priority is more abortion at all costs.