Washington D.C., Jan 22, 2020 / 10:00 am
The Department of Justice is officially supporting Ohio's Down syndrome abortion ban before a federal circuit court.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed on Tuesday with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Ohio's law is constitutional, protects vulnerable individuals and mothers from coercive abortions, and upholds the integrity of the medical profession.
"The federal government has an interest in the equal dignity of those who live with disabilities," Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division stated. "Nothing in the Constitution requires Ohio to authorize abortion providers to participate in abortions the providers know are based on Down syndrome."
The law bans doctors from performing abortions in cases where a positive test or prenatal diagnosis indicates Down syndrome, or where there is "[a]ny other reason to believe that an unborn child has Down syndrome." The bill was signed into law by former Gov. John Kasich in December of 2017.