On February 25, 2022, Women’s Med Dayton and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region filed a lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 157, legislation that would threaten to shut down procedural abortion services in Southwest Ohio. The law is currently blocked from taking effect after Plaintiffs won a preliminary injunction. The case is stayed pending the resolution of litigation over Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban.

In December 2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law Senate Bill 27, a fetal tissue disposal requirement that mandates burial or cremation of all embryonic and fetal tissue from a procedural abortion, imposing severe burdens on patients and stigmatizing essential care. On January 31, 2022, an Ohio judge preliminarily enjoined the law, finding that the law likely violates the Ohio state constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection. The victory follows a previous April 5, 2021 preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the law, because compliance would have been impossible due to the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) failure to establish necessary rules and regulations. The law is currently blocked from taking effect, and the case is stayed pending ongoing litigation over Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban. This lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Fanon A. Rucker on behalf of Ohio abortion providers.

This case asks whether the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars the Ohio state court from enforcing redistricting requirements in the Ohio constitution that prohibit partisan gerrymandering.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio, and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in June of 2019 challenging an Ohio law banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. This law would effectively eliminate abortion access in the state. In July of 2019, we successfully obtained a preliminary injunction, blocking this law from taking effect. On July 7, 2022, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversing Roe v. Wade, the case was dismissed without prejudice.

On March 29, 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging Ohio’s refusal to correct the gender marker on birth certificates for transgender people, for any reason, at any time. Ohio is one of just three states, with Tennessee and Kansas, that has yet to change the extremely regressive and harmful policy. The lawsuit states that the Ohio government has violated the equal protection, due process, and free speech rights of Stacie Ray, Basil Argento, Ashley Breda, and a fourth, unnamed plaintiff.