CLEVELAND — The Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade ended 50 years of abortion precedent, leaving it up to each state to allow, restrict, or ban abortion.
Ohio went further than most, making abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. So, does that mean states can immediately start penalizing or prosecuting people or providers who violate abortion bans?
The short answer is "not exactly."
The domino effect began Friday with the Court's reversal of Roe. Hours later came a ruling lifting a nearly three-year injunction on Ohio's "Heartbeat Bill"—opening the door for criminal or civil punishment for abortion violators.
"Many pro-life people believe that life begins at conception and abortion is tantamount to murder," Jonathan Entin, Law Professor with Case Western Reserve University, told 3News. "That could lead to charges, including felonies under the murder umbrella."
What about buying the abortion pill online? Does that get around the law?
"If you get abortion pills online, if you manage your own abortion, that is something that is not within the law of Ohio, and it comes with risk of criminal prosecution," Ohio Pro-Choice CEO Kellie Copeland said.
The heartbeat law states no fetus with cardiac activity can be aborted in the state of Ohio by any means, but anti-abortion advocates say the goal is to penalize providers.
"We're not talking about criminalizing the actions of the woman in this case, because we have never ever advocated for that," Pro-Life Cleveland CEO Kate Makra stressed. "We're not trying to send these women to jail for this."
Jail time—even the death penalty—has been discussed in conversations about whether abortion rises to the level of murder as we know it in legal terms. A death penalty case would be highly unlikely for violators of abortion law, and jail time would likely not happen, even in a post-Roe era.
"The state might be able to do that on the theory that abortion is the same thing as first-degree murder," Entin said. "Is it likely? Probably not. [Doctors] would [more likely] lose their licenses. Even if they don't go to jail, if you don’t have your medical license, you can't be a doctor."
Here in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley and some of his counterparts from across the country signed a letter saying they won't pursue charges against abortion patients or providers. That document stated that just because states can prosecute doesn't mean they must, and that such cases may bog down the justice system.