The Ohio Department of Health can’t take action against a website offering information about abortion drugs via telehealth, according to that agency’s response to a complaint filed by Ohio Right to Life last month.
The anti-abortion group wanted ODH to halt the site HeyJane.com for allegedly violating state law for helping women access medication used to induce abortion. A state law banning the prescribing of abortion meds via telehealth was blocked by a Hamilton County judge before it took effect in 2021.
In its response, ODH said the law cited by Ohio Right to Life is a criminal statute under which the agency is not provided any enforcement authority. ODH continued by saying this matter would be more appropriately directed to the State Medical Board of Ohio and the attorney general. Since voters approved Ohio's reproductive rights amendment in 2023, opponents of abortion, and Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, have been waging court challenges to keep certain laws involving abortion on the books. ORTL said earlier it had filed a complaint with the medical board.
More about the website at the heart of the complaint
HeyJane.com, which launched in Ohio last month, calls itself a “virtual abortion clinic”. It allows a patient seeking an abortion to consult with a doctor via telehealth and get abortion pills sent to them.
Supporters of the reproductive rights amendment have claimed it would prohibit any action that would limit access to abortion services. When making the complaint, ORTL President Mike Gonidakis disagreed that Ohio voters intended to approve of abortion pills through telemedicine.
“That’s just false because at the end of the day voters approved it, and the language in there did not give a blanket immunity and a destruction of every pro-life law that has been passed," Gonidakis said.
In a recent written statement, Kiki Freedman, co-founder and CEO of HeyJane, said Ohio Right to Life's complaint is an attempt to misinform and mislead Ohioans. She said doctors work with patients during the process and adds the drugs prescribed are safe, effective, and have been FDA-approved for telemedicine.
"It is deeply important to HeyJane that Ohioans have access to accurate, factual information that allows them to make informed decisions about accessing high-quality and safe abortion care," Freedman said.
Several abortion-related laws are being challenged in court as no longer constitutional under the 2023 amendment, and most are expected to go to the Ohio Supreme Court. They include the ban on telemedicine to prescribe abortion drugs, the 24-hour waiting period, the requirement of burial or cremation of fetal remains from abortion and the six-week abortion ban.
