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Cincinnati Woman Says Ohio’s Abortion Laws Are Hurting Pregnant Women

usatoday.com

A Cincinnati woman with a fatal pregnancy problem says she was forced to go out of state for a late term abortion. And advocates say bills under consideration would make situations like hers worse. 

Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.

At 22 weeks of pregnancy, Sheva Guy found out the fetus inside her would not live much longer because she was losing amniotic fluid. Only two clinics in Ohio perform abortions at that point, and neither could do hers fast enough. So Guy says she was forced to spend $3000 to go out of state.

“I had to leave my baby in Chicago. I totally had to leave my home to get a medical procedure done that I needed to have that was healthy for me and my baby who was barely hanging on anyway. And I had to leave her there. I left her alone in a strange city and there was nothing I could do about it.”

Pro-choice advocates say new abortion laws hurt poor women with complicated pregnancies, and that further abortion restrictions are under consideration. But Ohio Right to Life says women can have abortions as late as Guy did, though the group is backing a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, as 12 other states have. 

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