Ohio Supreme Court overturns lower court ruling and closes Toledo's only abortion clinic, a 5-2 decision where Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican and women's advocate, and former justice William O'Neil, the only Democrat on the state's all-White high court who resigned from the bench January 26 relative to his bid for governor, dissented....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican and former lieutenant governor, and former justice William O'Neil, now a Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, both of whom dissented as to the 5-2 decision by the Ohio's high court on Tuesday that overturns a lower court ruling to keep Toledo's only abortion clinic open. The Ohio Department of Health had issued a state order to close the abortion facility because it violated an administrative rule regarding  the transfer process, an order upheld by Ohio's high court relative to its decision on Tuesday

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, OHIO-The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a controversial ruling upholding a state order to close Toledo's only abortion clinic, a 5-2 decision with Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican and former lieutenant governor, writing the dissenting opinion, Justice William O'Neil, the only Democrat on the court who resigned Jan 26 relative to his bid for governor, joining O'Connor in dissenting.

The anticipated decision comes as women's rights movements have taken steam across the nation and the 44th anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade that upheld abortion as constitutional is being celebrated in Cleveland, Ohio this week, and elsewhere in the country (Editors' note: CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR THE FEBRUARY 8, 2018 CELEBRATION AT TRINITY CATHEDRAL IN CLEVELAND BY THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE CLEVELAND COALITION OF THE 44TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROE V WADE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT LANDMARK DECISION THAT MADE ABORTION CONSTITUTIONAL ).

The court's ruling overturns a lower court ruling against the department of health that says the abortion clinic at issue should remain open though it's licence was revoked by the director of the Ohio Department of Health  for violating its administrative rules of the governmental agency.

In its decision, the state's high court said the clinic must be closed for violating an applicable administrative rule under the purview of the state's health department but did not entertain whether the rule itself as to restrictions of abortion for failure to comply with its provisions is unconstitutional, the court explicitly ignoring a challenge of the constitutionality of the matter waged by Cleveland's pre-term clinic.

"Because [the department] had authority to revoke Capital Care's license based on the failure to comply with the administrative rule requiring a written transfer agreement with a nearby hospital, it is not necessary to reach those constitutional issues," Justice Terrence O'Donnell wrote in a majority opinion.

At issue is the determination by the Ohio Department of Health to close the clinic for its failure, via the facilitating agency of Capital Care Network, to secure  transfer with a hospital that oversees abortions within the 30-day time period required under the health department's administrative rules, Capital Care, and abortion advocates, including Cleveland' pre-term clinic arguing that the administrative rule itself is unconstitutional.

Capital Care and Cleveland's pre-term clinic say the administrative rule is over burdensome and interferes with a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. 

In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice O'Connor wrote that the court should weigh the constitutional issues at hand. 

O'Connor said that because hospitals would accept emergency patients transferred regardless of whether there is an agreement in place there is no benefit to requiring transfer agreements.

The all-White seven-member Ohio Supreme Court is now all Republican and majority female, given the departure of Democratic Justice William O'Neil on Jan 26 and the naming by Gov Kasich of his replacement, Republican Justice Mary DeGenaro, a former 7th District Court of Appeals judge out of the Youngstown area.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.