Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins permanently blocked the remaining provisions of Ohio’s 2019 heartbeat law on October 29, 2026. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by abortion providers, including Preterm-Cleveland.
The case was filed in 2022 against then-Attorney General Dave Yost, the Ohio Department of Health, the State Medical Board of Ohio, and several county prosecutors. Jenkins had already blocked the law’s six-week abortion ban. This ruling addressed the law’s remaining ancillary provisions.
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2023 that guarantees abortion access. Jenkins ruled that the remaining provisions of the 2019 law could not stand under that amendment. A contemporaneous report said the court struck specific provisions tied to heartbeat-check requirements.
The First District Court of Appeals had previously said Jenkins needed to reconsider severability before issuing a final ruling. Severability determines whether parts of a law can remain in force when other parts are blocked.
For Ohio, the decision shows the continuing legal effect of the 2023 amendment. Protections tied to detecting an unborn child’s heartbeat have now been blocked along with the law’s six-week limit. The next fights over the sanctity of life in Ohio will continue under the amendment voters added to the state constitution.
