15-19 - Repeal Chp. 503, Abortions

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(1) State and municipal governments have legitimate interests in insuring that abortions are performed under circumstances that assure maximum safety for the patient; (2) State and municipal governments have a valid and important interest in encouraging childbirth; (3) State and municipal governments have an important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life, and that although this interest does not alone become sufficiently compelling to justify unduly burdensome state and/or municipality interference with the woman's privacy until the time at which the fetus becomes viable, that nevertheless this interest is still a significant state and /or municipality interest existing throughout the entire course of the woman's pregnancy; and (4) State and municipal governments have an unquestionably strong and legitimate interest in encouraging normal childbirth; and WHEREAS, Council is aware of a great deal of misinformation and ignorance about the development of the potentiality of human life in the womb from the time of conception onwards until the birth of the child, and many people, including pregnant women, are not aware of this development, and due to the stress of circumstances said persons fail to obtain information as to this development, and knowledge of this development of the potentiality of human life in the womb can have a decisive influence upon the exercise by a pregnant woman of her constitutionally protected right to privacy with regard to abortion; and WHEREAS, Council is cognizant of the fact that certain freestanding surgical outpatient facilities in the State of Ohio have provided substandard patient care; and WHEREAS, scientific evidence demonstrates that biologically human life is present from the time of conception onward; and WHEREAS, this chapter constitutes an emergency measure providing for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare, and for the further reason that such standards should be established at the earliest possible time; now, therefore, this chapter is enacted. 503.01 DEEIN 1TIONS. As used in this chapter, certain terms are defined as follows: (a) "Anesthetic" means a drug, gas or other agent used to abolish the sensation of pain. There are three classifications as follows: (1) "General anesthetic" means an anesthetic agent which produces a temporary loss of consciousness by the administration of a gas; oral, intramuscular and intravenous drugs; or a combination of these methods. (2) "Local anesthetic" means a drug whose action is limited to an area of the body around the site of its application. (3) "Spinal ", "epidural" or "caudal anesthetic" means the injection of an appropriate local type of anesthetic into the spinal canal, epidural area, to produce a local loss of sensitivity to the body areas at and below the sensory nerve distribution at the level of injection.