The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Democrats in the Ohio House say they are looking to boost the rights established in the reproductive rights constitutional amendment while awaiting the elimination of certain state laws that restrict reproductive health.
State Rep. Dr. Anita Somani, D-Dublin, and fellow Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, are also looking to use new legislation to respond to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that declared frozen embryos used for in-vitro fertilization to be considered people for whom civil damages could be collected in the event the embryo is damaged or destroyed.
Alabama’s own legislature passed legislation to restart the process after the ruling, but uncertainty remains, the Ohio Democrats said.
“The Alabama (Supreme Court) ruling against IVF care showed us that religion, the law and science should not be conflated when it comes to protecting patients and physicians,” Somani said in a Wednesday press conference.
House Bill 502, the new bill being brought forth by Somani and Piccolantonio would give medical professionals “clarity” and protections as they work with IVF patients. Piccoloantonio said the bill would “preclude civil, criminal and professional disciplinary action for a claim of injury to or death of any human reproductive material as an unborn human individual.”
The language of the bill would also control “collecting, retaining, using and disclosing” any “personal assisted reproduction or donor information” by entities including other states and law enforcement.
Citing CDC data, Piccolantonio said Ohio saw 2,226 births resulting from IVF treatments, accounting for 1.7% of all births in 2021.
The co-sponsor also said H.B. 502 touches on “religious liberty” by not regulating the practice based on one moral ideology over another.
“In my Jewish faith, an embryo is not immediately a person, so IVF is a permissible and even encouraged way to grow a family,” she said in the press conference announcing the bill. “Likewise, if your religion disagrees with this practice, that is perfectly okay, but it is not our right as state legislators to impose those views on all Ohioans.”
Piccoloantonio brought a former colleague to the press conference, Kara Coates, who went through IVF treatments two decades ago. Those treatments brought her 21-year-old twin daughters.
Coates said she wants access to IVF to become easier for families who want it, especially because going through the process itself already has its physical and mental challenges.
Having to pause the process, whether for medical or legislative reasons, “restarts the stress, restarts the depression, restarts the entire process depending on when that pause is,” Coates said.
Both Democratic sponsors emphasized that legislators should not be a part of the conversation surrounding individual Ohioans’ reproductive decisions.
“Our role should be to support legislation that continues to improve society, whether it be for reproductive health, environmental health, public education or public health,” Somani said.
But in H.B. 502, the sponsors hope to be pro-active when it comes to seeing the reproductive rights constitutional amendment come into its full power.
“There’s a lot of bills that impede access to care that need to be resolved before we can just say the constitutional amendment in and of itself is enough,” Somani said, referring to requirements for a 24-hour waiting period and ultrasound before an abortion, and a six-week abortion ban present in Ohio law but held up in court.
Fertility treatments are specifically mentioned in the state’s constitutional amendment, approved by 57% of the voters last November, along with topics like abortion and miscarriage treatment.
The co-sponsors acknowledged they have not picked up a Republican co-sponsor on the bill just yet. Republican support will be critical for the bill’s success under the current GOP supermajority.
Somani and Piccolantonio said they are hopeful committee hearings will give legislators information on the bill that will convince them to join.
“This type of bill is about as pro-life as you can get,” Somani said. “It’s pro-family, it’s pro-child, so I think it’s important to reach across the aisle for that.”
Legislative leaders in Ohio have dismissed concerns about the fate of IVF in Ohio, but so-called personhood bills have been introduced in the past, and have not been ruled out for the future.
HB 502 has not been assigned to a House committee yet. Once assigned, public hearings can begin.
