Ohio lawmakers have introduced an abortion ban bill that would require doctors to "reimplant an ectopic pregnancy" by moving a fertilized embryo into a woman's uterus in a procedure that experts say is medically impossible unless they want to be charged with "abortion murder."
The proposal marks the second time doctors have tried telling proponents of the bill that the idea of moving an embryo is medically impossible, reports The Guardian.
“I don’t believe I’m typing this again but, that’s impossible,” wrote Ohio obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. David Hackney on Twitter, where he shared a copy of the bill. “We’ll all be going to jail."
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when an embryo implants on a woman's fallopian tube rather than in her uterus. This is a life-threatening condition, as it can kill a woman if the embryonic tissue is allowed to remain and grow.
Ohio's House Bill 413 also orders an outright ban on abortion, while defining a fertilized egg, as an "unborn child," and threatens anyone who performs or has an abortion, of being charged with "abortion murder" in a crime that would be punishable by life in prison.
Another new crime listed on the bill is "aggravated abortion murder," which would be punishable by death.
Reps. Candice Keller and Ron Hood have proposed the bill, which is co-sponsored by 19 others in the state's 99-member House.
Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis refused to comment, saying he's still reading the bill, which is 700 pages long.
The state passed a "heartbeat bill" last summer that banned abortions after six weeks, but reproductive rights groups used and the bill never became law.
Dr. Chris Zahn, vice president of practice for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said it is "not possible to move an ectopic pregnancy from a fallopian tube, or anywhere else it might have implanted, to the uterus," and women suffering the condition can face "catastrophic hemorrhage and death."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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