Abortion bill debate draws big crowd

Abortion bill debate draws big crowd:

"COLUMBUS — Debate began Tuesday on a bill that aims to outlaw all abortions in the state and put Ohio at the center of a contentious battle to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 33-year-old U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion."

Dr. John Willke, president of the Cincinnati-based Life Issues Institute and past president of the National Right to Life, urged lawmakers to adopt House Bill 228. "By the time it gets to the Supreme Court, we may have a friendly court," he said. "The time has come."

South Dakota recently passed a law banning all abortions and Louisiana passed a so-called trigger law, a ban that would take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Gary Daugherty, executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio, said: "Banning abortion will not stop abortion." Instead, it'll lead to unsafe illegal abortions that put women's health at risk, he said.

The Dayton area has one clinic that performs abortions, according to the Miami Valley Women's Center.

More than 200 people turned out for the all-day hearing before the House Health Committee.

At times, it felt like a cross between high school health class with explanations of human fertilization, a philosophy course with discourse on when a human becomes a human and Sunday school with preachers, rabbis and lawmakers quoting scripture.

Others told their personal stories.

Tababa Aleem of Akron talked about the grimy-handed factory worker who used a coat hanger to abort her pregnancy when she was a college sophomore in 1968. He insisted they have sex before the illegal abortion, she said.

Elizabeth Clyne of Columbus tearfully recounted going to an abortion clinic as a teenager but regretting the decision ever since.

This is one of seven states that are moving in this direction.