Judge Blocks Ohio Law Requiring Aborted Fetal Tissue Burial (1)

An Ohio trial judge permanently blocked a Republican-passed state law requiring the burial or cremation of fetal tissue from surgical abortions, saying it flies in the face of a state constitutional amendment voters overwhelmingly passed in 2023 to enshrine reproductive rights.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Alison Hatheway rejected arguments from state health officials that the law doesn’t impede the ability to have the procedure. That’s because law requires providers to explain the cremation or burial decision to patients before an abortion, Hatheway wrote Thursday.

Officials didn’t even try to argue that the requirements benefit patient health, which the constitutional ...