Criminal Justice (Civil Rights)

HB 370, the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, would ban abortion in Ohio by defining "person" to include preborn children from conception, making abortion a criminal offense under homicide laws. It directly affects pregnant people seeking abortions, healthcare providers offering abortion services, and individuals who may pressure someone to terminate a pregnancy. Key provisions require that abortion-related acts be treated as homicide or assault under existing laws, with exceptions only for life-saving procedures on the pregnant person (when reasonable steps to save the fetus are taken) or spontaneous miscarriages. The bill repeals current legal provisions that permit abortion or "prenatal homicide" and mandates due process protections for those subject to the law.

To amend sections 2903.01, 2929.01, 2929.12, 2929.14, and 2929.22 and to enact section 2941.1428 of the Revised Code to create new aggravated murder offenses for political motivation and political victims, to create a mandatory prison term for politically motivated offenses of violence, and to add political motivation to sentencing factors for felonies and misdemeanors.