Second Ohio city criminalizes abortions, legal fight expected

MASON, Ohio (AP) — A second Ohio city has voted to criminalize abortion within its limits, a largely symbolic move decried by abortion rights backers as unconstitutional at a raucous hourslong meeting.

A divided city council in Mason, a city of about 30,000 located 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) northeast of Cincinnati, approved the ordinance 4-3 Monday, deferring its effective date for 30 days. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Republicans on the panel disagreed over whether the move was within the city’s authority.

Anti-abortion and abortion-rights protestors demonstrated outside Mason’s municipal building and filled the council chambers to capacity.

Neither Mason nor nearby Lebanon, which became the first city in Ohio to ban abortions in May, has any abortion clinics or is planning any. The Mason ordinance forbids possession within city limits of abortion-inducing drugs, including prescription misoprostol and mifepristone, but carries no penalties for someone seeking an abortion.

Read more: https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/cleveland/news/2021/10/26/second-ohio-city-criminalizes-abortions--legal-fight-expected