Back in May, the city of Lebanon became the first in Ohio to pass a law restricting abortion within its city limits. Now, the city of Mason is mulling a similar move.
The two join dozens of cities across the country that have passed or considered similar ordinances, many at the urging of anti-abortion activist groups like Right to Life of East Texas, whose director Mark Lee Dickson consulted with Lebanon elected officials on the language of their ordinance.
Neither Mason nor Lebanon have an abortion clinic within their city limits, and some have called the ordinances simply symbolic. But the wave of municipal laws about abortion comes at a time when some believe Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, could be overturned.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss the Greater Cincinnati ordinances is WVXU reporter Jolene Almendarez. Also joining the program to discuss the roots and national implications of the municipal abortion laws is Florida State University Stearns Weaver Miller Professor Mary Ziegler, author of Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present.
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