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| John Kasich signs 20-week abortion ban but vetoes ‘heartbeat’ abortion bill | John Kasich signs 20-week abortion ban but vetoes ‘heartbeat’ abortion bill |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The governor of Ohio has signed a bill which bans abortion at 20 weeks, one of the most harshest laws against women’s reproductive rights in the country. | The governor of Ohio has signed a bill which bans abortion at 20 weeks, one of the most harshest laws against women’s reproductive rights in the country. |
| John Kasich has vetoed other bills, however, including the so-called "heartbeat" bill which bans the procedure as soon as the first fetal heartbeat is heard. | |
| That can happen as soon as six weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant. | |
| Opponents of the heartbeat bill SB 127 predicted that the Republican governor would find it unconstitutional. | |
| Similar measures elsewhere have faced legal challenges. | |
| Even the state's oldest anti-abortion group, Ohio Right to Life, urged the governor to bypass the bill - this time. The group wants to pass the bill, but only wants to push it through when the Supreme Court has an anti-abortion majority. | |
| The same group approved his measure to pass the 20-week ban, however, claiming he had "saved countless babies" and "positioned the state to directly challenge Roe v Wade". | |
| Roe V Wade was passed in 1973 and constitutionally guarantees a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. | |
| "At no time in our state’s history have we had such protective pro-life laws, and we have governor Kasich and our pro-life legislature to thank," said the group's president, Mike Gonidakis, in a statement. | |
| Mr Kasich is pro-life and he is an advocate of defunding Planned Parenthood, a family planning and health clinic which provides many services for women and men, including cancer screenings. | |
| A 20-week ban is now in effect in 15 states and was blocked in two others. The president-elect Donald Trump has expressed approval for both defunding Planned Parenthood and banning abortion at 20 weeks. | |
| The governor's veto is not the final word. If Ohio lawmakers want to push the legislation through, they would need a three-fifths majority in each chamber. | |
| The same day that Mr Kasich vetoed the heartbeat bill, the Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a law requiring abortion clinics to have doctors with admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the facility. | |
| The court said that law would violate the state and federal constitution. A similar measure was also knocked down in Texas over the summer. | |
| It was signed by Republican governor Mary Fallin in 2014 - a potential appointee to Mr Trump's cabinet - but the courts blocked it from taking effect. |