Ohio Abortion Providers Now Required to Do Fetal Test That Doesn't Exist [View all]

Ohio Abortion Providers Now Required to Do Fetal Test That Doesn't Exist

http://jezebel.com/ohio-abortion-providers-now-required-to-do-fetal-test-t-1689141948

In 2013, the state enacted a requirement that a person seeking an abortion be forced to listen to the fetus' heartbeat. The same year, the governor cut $1.4 million in family planning funding. By August of 2014, four of the state's abortion clinics had closed. Now, NPR reports, that number is up to eight. Only eight facilities remain. All ambulatory surgical centers in Ohio (they perform minor surgical procedures, like an first-trimester abortion) are required to have "transfer agreements" with hospitals so that patients can be taken there if the surgery results in unexpected complications. But a newish law mandates that abortion clinics—and only abortion clinics—can't make those transfer agreements with public hospitals, making it that much harder for them to operate legally.

Ohio also implemented a requirement that abortion providers test for viability at 20 weeks. But such a test doesn't exist. It's not a real thing. From NPR:

Then there's the state's confusing requirement for a fetal viability test after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Fetuses are generally not considered viable until several weeks later. But Dr. Lisa Perriera, an OB-GYN at Preterm, says there is no such test.

"The laws say that we have to do some kind of testing," she says. "They don't tell us what kind of tests to do, nor do those tests even really mean anything. It's just another hoop to jump through."