In its split decision, the court, however, denied Republican Attorney General Dave Yost's request to launch its own review of the right to an abortion under the Ohio Constitution, leaving those arguments to play out in lower court.
This means abortions remain legal in the state for now, up to 20 weeks' gestation.
Yost appealed Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins’ order to the state’s high court in January, after a failed effort to get it overturned by the First District Court of Appeals. The appellate court ruled the appeal premature, as it was only an interim step in the lawsuit challenging the so-called heartbeat law's constitutionality.
Justices will now decide whether such orders are appropriate legal procedure, or attempts by lower courts to block laws they don't like, as Yost has asserted.
Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, justices Pat DeWine and Pat Fischer and Ohio Court of Appeals Judge Matthew Byrne — sitting in due to Justice Joe Deters' recusal — voted in favor of the review. All are Republicans. The court's three Democrats dissented.
Kennedy, DeWine and Byrne all would have also taken up the question of whether Ohio's constitution guarantees a right to abortion, but Fischer did not support the idea.
The law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibits most abortions after the first detectable “fetal heartbeat.” Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
