Planned Parenthood Files Federal Lawsuit to Protect Abortion in Ohio

Planned Parenthood has filed a federal lawsuit to protection abortion access in Ohio after state officials claimed that aborted fetuses from clinics in the state were illegally disposed of in landfills, the organization said Sunday.

Attorneys for Planned Parenthood affiliates in Ohio argue that the health care provider follows the law by using licensed medical removal companies that handle fetal tissue.

“It is either treated for sterilization or incinerated, and then disposed of,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement. “The false claims are motivated by politics, not by the facts and not by medicine, and are intended to ban abortion in the state.”

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Friday said an investigation found that all three Planned Parenthood practices in Ohio violated state rules by sending “fetal remains to companies which disposed of the fetuses in landfills.”

“Disposing of aborted fetuses from an abortion by sending them to a landfill is callous and completely inhumane,” DeWine said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood officials blasted the probe as an attack meant to ban abortion in the state.

“It’s clear from the Attorney General’s press conference that we’ve acted properly and legally, and this is just part of his longstanding political agenda to ban abortion in all cases,” CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Jerry Lawson said in a statement. “We won’t let that happen.”