COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Friday regarding a new law that would require that the fetal remains from surgical abortions be cremated or buried.
The bill was passed by the General Assembly in December and was scheduled to go into effect this week. DeWine’s order allows the Department of Health to adopt rules to enforce the law immediately instead of waiting out the normal 120-day period for rule-making.
But the law is already the subject of a legal challenge. A Hamilton County judge granted a preliminary injunction that would keep it from going into effect until 30 days after the normal rule-making period ended.
Planned Parenthood argued in court that a lack of rules makes complying with the law “impossible.” The law replaced an earlier one that required aborted fetuses to be disposed of “in a humane manner” but did not define “humane.”
Abortion opponents said the new language assures human dignity, while abortion-rights groups say it’s intended as a hurdle to getting an abortion.