COLUMBUS, Ohio — Clinics around Ohio are now able to prescribe the abortion pill mifepristone virtually and can send it to pharmacies or directly to homes through mail-order medication services thanks to a new state court ruling.
Ohio abortion providers have been busy.
"We're moving back into a better time when abortion is recognized as health care," said Dr. David Burkons, owner of Northeast Ohio Women's Center.
He is now cheering a new ruling that will help his Shaker Heights and Cuyahoga Falls locations, and third affiliated center in Toledo, see more patients.
In a major victory for abortion rights advocates, Democratic Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Alison Hatheway has temporarily blocked a law that contained a myriad of restrictions to abortion.
The law restricted who was able to prescribe and provide the abortion pill mifepristone. Instead of just physicians, this injunction allows nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse-midwives to provide the drug.
It also extends the window that providers can prescribe the pill. Instead of being limited to nine weeks and six days, now they can give the medication at 12 weeks and six days.
But its greatest impact? Telehealth. Patients are now able to talk to a provider virtually and have them mail the medication or send it to the pharmacy. This means that because the second abortion pill has already been able to be received via telehealth, the entire medication abortion could be accomplished online.
"The telemedicine aspect of it is going to make it much easier for us to get access for patients in rural areas or places where there are no clinics," Burkons said.
This result is due to both this ruling and another court win two weeks ago, according to ACLU attorney Jessie Hill.
Abortion clinics are now providing same-day services after a Franklin County judge blocked the state's law requiring a 24-hour waiting period to access the care.
The law required two in-person appointments with a 24-hour waiting period in between to get the abortion medication or procedure.
RELATED: No waiting period: Ohio abortion clinics doing same-day services after court win
I have been covering abortion in Ohio extensively. Click here to read the latest stories.
It is unclear whether or not providers can prescribe the abortion pill to patients in other states. If abortion is banned in the state, providers can't give it over telehealth, advocates explained.
Anti-abortion advocate Austin Beigel said the day voters overwhelmingly protected access to abortion was a dark day for the state.
Issue 1 passed in Nov. 2023 57-43%, and it enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution. Ohioans have the right to make their own decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and continuing pregnancy. The state is prohibited from interfering with or penalizing someone for exercising this right.
"I’m devastated and heartbroken when I look at the state of Ohio and what we've allowed to occur in our land," Beigel said.
He is the president of End Abortion Ohio and believes the act of abortion — at any point — and the use of mifepristone should be a crime.
He is concerned that with these court rulings, Ohio is gaining a reputation.
"I've seen that Ohio is the Abortion mecca right now as women from Georgia and Texas and other states in the south are actually coming to Ohio for our lesser regulations on abortion," he said. "There should be nothing but shame in having that title."
Burkons holds that title fondly. Just in the past two weeks, he has seen numerous patients from Texas.
"Abortion should be available wherever these patients are, but if it means coming here to Ohio to obtain that care — I'm just as proud of that as they come here to get cardiac care," Burkons said.
I reached out to CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens to see if they would start carrying the medicine.
"We continually monitor and evaluate changes in state laws regarding mifepristone and will be reviewing this decision to determine whether there’s any impact to our Ohio pharmacies," CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault said.
Rite Aid didn't respond to comment, and Walgreens said they "have no announcements at this time."
Beigel isn't giving up, though.
The fight to rid abortion continues
In an exclusive interview back in December, Beigel provided me with a draft bill his team has been promoting to both statewide and federal lawmakers.
Their bill criminalizes abortion at any point, meaning a woman who took mifepristone could be charged with homicide.
"I don't like the act of taking it intentionally to kill a human being inside of you," Beigel said. "I think the federal government also has a responsibility to do what's right on this issue."
In the months since then, Beigel has kept me updated on the progress of the legislation.
He is preparing to introduce it with lawmakers at the next General Assembly, he told me today.
Click here to learn more about his progress.
Abortion advocates respond
No one wants a total abortion ban, nor is this even possible to happen in Ohio thanks to the state constitution, Democrats and doctors have continually argued.
"This is something that is between the woman and her physician, or medical provider, and her family to make that decision," Burkons said. "It's not up to the state to decide what you can do and what you can't do."
It doesn't make sense to him that the party that claims they are for less government regulation wants to be in the exam room.
Like the anti-abortion squad, the abortion rights team said their work isn't done.
Both the Cincinnati and Columbus judges are Democrats, they will likely both be struck down eventually. They will probably end up at the Ohio Supreme Court.
This means that, essentially, abortion is on the ballot again this fall.
"You need to vote for Supreme Court justices who will enforce, not ignore the amendment so that it actually impacts the lives of patients like this ruling did," Abortion Forward's Jaime Miracle said.
Elections are vitally important to the status of abortion regulation.
Earlier this summer I evaluated the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mifepristone would remain available and how that could have a ripple effect on Ohio.
RELATED: SCOTUS ruling on abortion pill could have ripple effect on Ohio
