SHE WINS Act: Abortion Informed Consent

The American Council supports HB347, the Share the Health and Empower With Informed Notices (SHE WINS) Act, and urges every Ohio legislator to vote yes. This bill recognizes a truth rooted in both medicine and human dignity: a woman facing one of the most consequential decisions of her life deserves complete, accurate information before that decision is made. Supporting this bill is supporting her.

At the heart of the SHE WINS Act is a set of informed-consent conditions a physician must satisfy before performing an elective abortion. At least twenty-four hours in advance, the woman must receive medically accurate information about the procedure, immediate and long-term risks, all possible complications, the risks of carrying to term, and alternatives including adoption and parenting. She must also be informed that she may withdraw consent at any time without affecting her right to future care or any state or federally funded benefits she receives. She must sign a form certifying that her questions were answered, that she consents voluntarily and without coercion, and that she is not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. These are not bureaucratic hurdles; they are the floor of what genuine informed consent requires.

The bill is equally clear about what it does not do. Procedures addressing miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or a medical emergency are explicitly excluded from the definition of elective abortion. In a medical emergency, a physician may proceed while documenting the circumstances. The pregnant woman herself is fully immunized from any liability under the bill. The Act protects women; it does not penalize them.

HB347 gives the informed-consent framework real force by creating a civil cause of action. A physician who performs an abortion with actual knowledge that the consent conditions were not met, or with heedless indifference to whether they were met, is liable to any interested party for statutory damages of at least one hundred thousand dollars per prevailing claim, plus compensatory damages, punitive or exemplary damages, and attorney fees. Importantly, no costs or attorney fees may be awarded to a defendant, removing a financial deterrent that might otherwise discourage women from seeking accountability. Courts may also grant injunctive or equitable relief.

The bill also makes a targeted but important procedural reform. Under current law, when a court denies a motion for confidentiality, that denial is final and cannot be appealed. HB347 changes that: a denial becomes immediately appealable as an interlocutory matter. For women whose privacy is at stake in litigation, this change means a meaningful opportunity to protect sensitive information before it is disclosed, not after.

We call on all Ohioans of conscience to contact their legislators and urge a yes vote on HB347. A woman's right to know is not a partisan position; it is a human one. The SHE WINS Act makes that right enforceable, and the American Council is proud to stand behind it.