Ohio Down Syndrome Abortion Law Upheld, Teeing Up SCOTUS Look (1)

Ohio will no longer be blocked from enforcing a law criminalizing abortions when a provider knows a woman wants the procedure because of a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome, a split full Sixth Circuit said Tuesday in a case almost certain to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is the first federal appeals court decision holding valid a restriction based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. It conflicts with decisions by the Seventh and Eighth circuits, which held unconstitutional similar Indiana and Arkansas laws that banned abortions sought based on a specific reason like a fetus’s ...