Ohio House passes Stand Your Ground measure, bill limiting abortion telehealth services

In late-night votes, the Ohio House voted to add a “Stand Your Ground” amendment to Senate Bill 175 and to approve a bill to prohibit doctors from using telemedicine in administering abortion-inducing drugs.

The “stand your ground” amendment would allow a person with a gun to shoot another if the first person is somewhere that they lawfully have the right to be, did not instigate the altercation, and are afraid they will be seriously harmed making deadly force necessary to protect themselves.

Proponents of the amendment said that it essentially expanded Ohio’s Castle Doctrine, an Ohio law that removed the need for a person to try to retreat from an intruder in a car or home before using deadly force.

Opponents of the amendment criticized Stand Your Ground laws, saying that people already had a right to self-defense, that Stand Your Ground laws disproportionately affect minorities and that the laws cause unnecessary deaths.

Senate Bill 175 will now go back to the Senate for approval.

The House also voted 54-30 to approve Senate Bill 260, which limits the use of telehealth services in abortion medications, after the House voted 53-30 to block debate.

The bill prohibits doctors from providing abortion-inducing drugs to a woman unless the physician is physically present when the medication is first taken.

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