The Women's Med Center will start to do surgical and medication abortions again as early as Friday, Sept. 16.
That’s because a judge in Hamilton County has temporarily blocked Ohio’s heartbeat law that banned nearly all abortions. In his ruling, the judge said he issued the temporary restraining order against the heartbeat law because it might violate the Ohio Constitution by discriminating against women. The temporary block of Ohio's abortion ban will last for two weeks.
The Women's Med Center has almost exclusively performed pre-abortion procedure services at its Dayton (Kettering) location, and then sent patients to its Indianapolis location for the actual procedure, since late June. That was when Ohio's heartbeat law went into effect banning after about six weeks into a pregnancy.
With that six week ban now blocked, a representative from Women's Med Center — who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons — said the clinic will start out performing abortions on people who are 14 weeks or less into a pregnancy. That's the time period in a pregnancy when most people get abortions, according to the CDC.
Women’s Med said they will expand abortion services up to 22 weeks and six days into a pregnancy, which was the limit before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June., as they gradually ramp up their medical facility in the next week.
Chris Welter is a reporter and corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
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