John Kasich does something good: Signs Ohio law banning abortion for Down Syndrome

We beat up on John Kasich plenty when he deserves it, but he only deserves our praise today. We told you some months back about the rising prevalence of abortion just because it's learned that a baby may have Down Syndrome. In Iceland they abort nearly 100 percent of the time when there's a Down Syndrome diagnosis, which CBS thinks is just wonderful. But unless the courts strikees it down, there will soon be a law making it illegal to do this in Ohio, and yes, it was Gov. John Kasich who made it official earlier today by signing the bill into law:

Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a bill that would make it a fourth-degree felony for a doctor to perform an abortion if there is a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. The doctor could face up to 18 months in prison. There is no punishment for the woman. The law will take effect in March. Anti-abortion rights advocates say abortions because of Down syndrome are discrimination and cheered Kasich's decision Friday. “Ohio has given unborn children with Down syndrome and their families an early Christmas present and created a safe haven from lethal discrimination,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. Opponents argue the law will prevent women from making their own decisions on their pregnancies. "When a woman receives a diagnosis of Down syndrome during her pregnancy, the last thing she needs is Gov. Kasich barging in to tell her what's best for her family," said NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland. The law could face legal challenges. A similar law was struck down in Indiana in September by a U.S. District Judge after a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Getting any abortion ban to stand up in the courts is challenging because of Roe v. Wade, as well as the 1992 case that affirmed it, Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. Twice the Supreme Court has made the ghastly decision to assert that a woman's right to abortion is almost absolute in this country. But in the 2007 case Gonzalez v. Carhart, the Supremes did uphold the 2003 ban on partial-birth abortion, with Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority. So it's not impossible to to survive a court challenge to a law restricting abortion, but it's very difficult. Does the Ohio law have a chance? Maybe. The Supreme Court as currently comprised probably has four votes to uphold it, with Kennedy as usual being the swing vote. Kennedy's history on abortion cases makes him hard to predict. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, he initially sided with the conservative justices who wanted to uphold a series of abortion restrictions passed into law in Pennsylvania, but he changed his mind and joined the liberal justices and Sandra Day O'Connor in striking down the law and upholding Roe. No one ever knows what Anthony Kennedy is going to do. But we do know that it's a monstrous practice to murder children because they have Down Syndrome, not only for the sake of those children but also for the precedent it sets that it's OK to eliminate people because they have a condition that requires extra care, or because they can't entirely take care of themselves, or because they might inconvenience others, or because they're "not normal." No one is saying it's easy to be the parent of a Down Syndrome child, and no one signs up for it. But as parents we deal with all kinds of things we didn't sign up for, and we never get any guarantees about what they will or won't be. We do it because we love our children unconditionally. If your children are sick or have problems, you take care of them. You don't kill them. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult to have the law reflect that, but it's America 2017 and here we are. Kudos to Gov. Kasich for signing this bill into law. Now let's pray the courts uphold Ohio's right to establish this standard of protection for its children.