The Ohio Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday over whether a Cleveland abortion clinic has the legal right to proceed with its challenge to several abortion restrictions placed into a 2013 state budget bill.
Preterm of Cleveland needs to be granted standing to sue over the budget amendments, which it argues violate Ohio's single-subject rule.
Disputed provisions include a prohibition on public hospitals providing emergency backup under required transfer agreements and a requirement that clinics check for a fetal heartbeat before conducting an abortion.
The abortion limitations have forced at least seven Ohio clinics to close.
The 8th District Ohio Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County ruled last year that Preterm had been injured by the amendments and so had standing, reversing a trial court. Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, has appealed to the state's high court.
The Ohio Supreme Court earlier this month heard another challenge to the abortion rules. That was filed by a Toledo's only remaining abortion clinic, which has remained in limbo because administrators have been unable to obtain a transfer agreement with a local, non-public hospital.
