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CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati's last abortion clinic says it will remain open and drop its lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Health after the state agency approved a variance to a law that could have cost the clinic its license.
The federal lawsuit filed Nov. 11 by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region challenged a state law that put the group's Cincinnati clinic at risk of closing because it lacked a patient-transfer agreement with a hospital for emergencies. The clinic's previous agreement with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center was terminated after the state last year banned abortion providers from having such agreements with public hospitals.
Planned Parenthood had said that it couldn't get an agreement with a private hospital, with many of those hospitals declining for religious reasons.
Planned Parenthood CEO Jerry Lawson said Friday that the variance approved in a letter Thursday by health department Director Richard Hodges will help women in southwest Ohio who might otherwise have had to travel long distances for abortions. The lawsuit had said closing the clinic could cause dangerous delays in treatment and financial hardship, especially for low-income patients.
"This is a great victory for women in southwest Ohio because it means they will continue to have reasonable access to safe and legal abortion," Lawson said.
The variance will allow agreements the clinic has reached with several doctors who have said they would accept and care for the clinic's patients in emergencies.
The Ohio Right to Life organization is extremely disappointed in the state's decision, that group's president, Michael Gonidakis, said.
Even though the law allows for variances, this one should not have been granted because the clinic doesn't have an actual agreement with a hospital, he said Friday.
"Why should the state health department grant them a free pass through a loophole," Gonidakis said. "It appears that the state and Planned Parenthood are forcing abortions on the residents of Hamilton County."
A health department spokeswoman said variance requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.
"And because this one met the legal requirements and medical expectations for patient health and safety, it was granted," spokeswoman Melanie Amato said.
She said the department would review the variance again when the clinic's license comes up for renewal next year.
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