COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State Representative Jim Buchy, who said Wednesday that he believed the controversial anti-abortion Heartbeat Bill would "give people the incentive to be more responsible," said in 2012 that he had never considered why a woman would want to have an abortion.
At the time, Buchy was co-sponsoring another iteration of the Heartbeat Bill, which would ban abortions after the developing fetus has a detectable heartbeat. Usually this occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy -- before some women know they are pregnant.
He sat down for an interview with reporter Zeina Awad as part of the Al-Jazeera English documentary “The Abortion War," which examined the United States' cultural perspective on abortion through interviews with pro- and anti-abortion activists across the country.
"I believe in the sanctity of life, and I am in support of any legislation that is going to reduce or eliminate abortions," Buchy told Awad. "I believe there should be no abortions, period, except in the threat of the life of the mother."
"What do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?" Awad asked.
Buchy admitted he had not considered it.
"Well, there’s probably a lot of reasons. I’m not a woman," Buchy replied. "Some of it has to do with economics. A lot of it has to do with economics. I don’t know. It’s a question I’ve never even thought about."
The latest Heartbeat Bill, which was added as an amendment to a bill outlining procedures for reporting child abuse, currently sits on Governor John Kasich’s desk. If he either signs it or takes no action, it will become law in 2017.
