Innovation Ohio · November 4, 2021

Republicans Introduce Bill to Ban ALL Abortions, Send Vigilante Bounty Hunters After Pregnant Ohioans

COLUMBUS — Today, Desiree Tims, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio, condemned a deadly new bill (House Bill 480), which would ban all abortions and likely some emergency contraceptives in Ohio.

The bill would also define life as beginning “at fertilization.”

“This bill is grotesque and inhumane. The impact of a government mandated pregnancy is a threat to democracy, freedom, and quality of life for people who are pregnant. It’s unfortunate that a few lawmakers with an extremist agenda are obsessed with policing reproductive rights,” said Desiree Tims.

The bill as written creates a financial incentive for bounty hunters to seek legal action against doctors, medical professionals, and anyone who helps another Ohioan access abortion care.

It is essentially a license to hunt people during a personal and vulnerable moment in their lives. This financial incentive would disrupt the very nature and importance of the professionalization of the medical field.

“This bill is a recipe for anti-choice zealots to create witch hunts out of Ohio’s judicial system. They could take anyone they even suspected of participation in an abortion to court. The legal fees, public record, and usurpation of reproductive rights will cause personal harm. Every line of this bill is shameful,” continued Desiree Tims.

Reproductive rights organizations also note that by redefining “person” under Ohio law to include fertilized eggs, HB 480 would harm a wide range of Ohioans.

• It could limit access to in-vitro fertilization for Ohio couples who want to start their own families.
• It could prevent pregnant people with cancer from accessing life-saving medical treatment, due to risks to a fertilized egg.
• It could lead to legal investigations into people who experience miscarriages.
• It would be a significant invasion of privacy, and could be used to further over-police people of color and low-income individuals.

HB 480 was introduced by Republicans Jena Powell and Thomas Hall. It has over 30 Republican cosponsors and is the most extreme abortion bill in the United States to date.

Ohio Republican legislators have also introduced an abortion “trigger ban” in the Senate. Senate Bill 123 would immediately ban all abortions in Ohio if the United States Supreme Court ever overturns Roe Vs Wade.

Email your Ohio legislator today. Tell them to kill HB 480 — the Abortion Bounty Hunter bill.