OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 304 Bill Analysis
134th General Assembly
10
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsor: Sen. S. Huffman
Effective Date:
Amy L. Archer, Research Analyst
Audra Tidball, Attorney
SUMMARY
Prohibition on provision of abortion-inducing drugs
 Prohibits a person from knowingly providing an abortion-inducing drug to another,
unless the person is certified under the bill’s Abortion-Inducing Drug Certification
Program, meets other requirements to be considered a “qualified physician,” and
provides the drug in accordance with the bill’s requirements.
 Prohibits a public school, institution of higher education, or any other type of
educational program on public grounds from providing any abortion-inducing drugs.
Qualified physician requirements
 Requires a qualified physician, no later than 24 hours prior to providing an abortion-
inducing drug, to take certain action, including examining the patient in person and
verifying that the patient receiving the abortion-inducing drug is pregnant.
 Adds the following to the informed consent requirements under continuing law that
must be satisfied before an abortion may be performed or induced with an abortion-
inducing drug:
 The pregnant woman has been provided with the (1) notification form and
(2) acknowledgment of risks and consent form.
 The physician has met all of the bill’s requirements governing the provision of
abortion-inducing drugs.
 Prohibits a qualified physician from providing an abortion-inducing drug if certain
conditions apply to the patient, including, for example, the patient is not pregnant or
the gestational age of the unborn child of the pregnancy is more than 70 days or ten
weeks.
April 5, 2022
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
 Requires a qualified physician or physician’s agent, after an abortion-inducing drug is
provided to a patient, to do the following:
 Schedule an in-person follow-up appointment to confirm the completion of the
abortion and to assess bleeding.
 Make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the patient returns for the follow-up
appointment.
 If applicable, provide or refer the patient for emergency surgical intervention in
cases of medical complications and assure patient access to medical facilities
equipped for necessary treatments.
 Repeals the prohibition on a physician personally furnishing or providing an abortion-
inducing drug to a pregnant woman unless the physician is physically present where and
when the initial dose of the drug is consumed.
Penalties
 Creates the criminal offense of unlawful provision of an abortion-inducing drug,
generally a fourth degree felony, if an offender violates, or fails to comply with, the bill’s
requirements governing the provision of abortion-inducing drugs.
 Provides, in addition to remedies available under existing law, that a violation of, or
failure to comply with, the requirements governing the provision of abortion-inducing
drugs may also be the basis of a (1) civil action and (2) disciplinary action by a
professional licensing board.
Required forms and reports
 Requires the qualified physician providing an abortion-inducing drug to give the patient
(1) a notification form and (2) an acknowledgment of risks and consent form.
 Requires the qualified physician to sign a declaration prior to providing a patient with an
abortion-inducing drug.
 Requires, in addition to reports required under continuing law, a facility that provides
abortion-inducing drugs to complete, and the qualified physician who provides the
abortion-inducing drug to sign, an individual report for each abortion by an abortion-
inducing drug.
 Requires any other health care professional who diagnoses or treats a patient for an
abortion complication or adverse event related to the abortion-inducing drug to
complete and sign an individual report.
 Requires the above-mentioned reports to be submitted to the Department of Health,
generally on a monthly basis.
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Department of Health comprehensive statistical report
 Requires the Department of Health to annually prepare, and submit to the General
Assembly, a comprehensive statistical report compiling the data gathered from select
reports on the provision of abortion-inducing drugs.
 Requires the Department to summarize the aggregate data and submit the information
to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be included in the annual
Vital Statistics Report.
Abortion-Inducing Drug Certification Program and Reporting
System
 Requires the State Board of Pharmacy to establish an Abortion-Inducing Drug
Certification Program to oversee and regulate the provision of abortion-inducing drugs
in Ohio.
 As part of that program, requires physicians, manufacturers, and distributors to be
certified by the Pharmacy Board to personally furnish or provide abortion-inducing
drugs in Ohio.
 Establishes civil liability, criminal penalties, and regulatory fines and sanctions against
physicians, manufacturers, and distributors that violate the bill’s certification and
reporting requirements.
 Requires the Pharmacy Board to establish a system for reporting complications and
adverse events from the use of abortion-inducing drugs and requires physicians to
report to that system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Prohibition on provision of abortion-inducing drugs ..................................................................... 5
By person other than a qualified physician ................................................................................. 5
By public school, institution of higher education, or other ........................................................ 6
Definitions ................................................................................................................................... 6
Qualified physician requirements ................................................................................................... 7
Procedures prior to providing abortion-inducing drug ............................................................... 7
Informed consent requirements ................................................................................................. 8
Restrictions on provision of abortion-inducing drug .................................................................. 8
Requirements following provision of an abortion-inducing drug ............................................... 9
Repeal of physical presence requirement for abortion-inducing drugs ................................... 10
Penalties ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Criminal penalties ...................................................................................................................... 10
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Civil and disciplinary actions ..................................................................................................... 10
Exceptions............................................................................................................................. 11
Required forms and reports.......................................................................................................... 12
To be provided to patients ........................................................................................................ 12
Notification form .................................................................................................................. 12
Acknowledgment of risks and consent form ........................................................................ 12
Enforcement of form provisions .......................................................................................... 13
To be completed by a qualified physician ................................................................................. 14
To be completed by a facility and signed by a qualified physician ........................................... 14
Report for each abortion by abortion-inducing drug ........................................................... 14
Definitions ............................................................................................................................ 15
Submission requirements ..................................................................................................... 16
Enforcement of form provisions .......................................................................................... 16
Director and Department of Health requirements .............................................................. 17
To be completed by other health care professional ................................................................. 17
Individual report ................................................................................................................... 17
Submission requirement ...................................................................................................... 18
Enforcement of form provisions .......................................................................................... 18
Director and Department of Health requirements .............................................................. 18
Department of Health comprehensive statistical report ............................................................. 19
Inspection and availability of reports received ......................................................................... 19
Interpretation of provisions governing abortion-inducing drugs ................................................. 19
Abortion-Inducing Drug Certification Program............................................................................. 20
Certification required ................................................................................................................ 20
Certification process and eligibility ...................................................................................... 20
For a physician: ..................................................................................................................... 20
For a manufacturer or distributor: ....................................................................................... 20
Physician requirements ............................................................................................................. 21
Manufacturer and distributor requirements ............................................................................ 21
Violations ................................................................................................................................... 22
Certificate suspension and revocation ................................................................................. 22
Civil actions ........................................................................................................................... 22
Fines ...................................................................................................................................... 22
Criminal penalties ................................................................................................................. 23
Professional disciplinary action ............................................................................................ 23
Pregnant women exempt ..................................................................................................... 23
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Pharmacy Board obligations ..................................................................................................... 23
Website development .......................................................................................................... 23
Review of reports of violations ............................................................................................ 23
Rules ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Other obligations .................................................................................................................. 24
Interpretation of provisions ...................................................................................................... 24
Abortion-Inducing Drug Complication Reporting System ............................................................ 24
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Overview
The bill expands the regulation of the provision of medications used to induce abortion.
Under the bill, no person, except a qualified physician who meets the bill’s requirements,
including being certified by the State Board of Pharmacy under the Abortion-Inducing Drug
Certification Program that is to be established under the bill, can knowingly provide (meaning
give, sell, prescribe, dispense, administer, or transfer possession of) an abortion-inducing drug
(a medicine, drug, or other substance, including off-label use of drugs known to have abortion-
inducing effects such as RU-486 (mifepristone), misoprostol, and methotrexate, intended to
induce an abortion). Additionally, the bill establishes required procedures, restrictions, civil
actions, a criminal offense, and professional sanctions; forms and reports regarding the
provision of abortion-inducing drugs; and a system for reporting abortion complications (the
Abortion-Inducing Drug Complication Reporting System).
Current law, repealed under the bill, prohibits a person, other than a physician who
meets federal law governing RU-486 (mifepristone), from knowingly giving, selling, dispensing,
administering, personally furnishing, and otherwise providing mifepristone to another person
for the purpose of inducing an abortion or enabling the other person to induce an abortion in
any person. The bill also repeals the current law prohibition on a physician personally furnishing
or providing an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman unless the physician is physically
present where and when the initial dose of the drug is consumed.
Prohibition on provision of abortion-inducing drugs
By person other than a qualified physician
The bill prohibits a person from knowingly providing an abortion-inducing drug to
another for the purpose of inducing an abortion in any person or enabling the other person to
induce an abortion in any person, unless the person who provides the abortion-inducing drug is
a qualified physician (see definition below) and the physician provides the abortion-inducing
drug to the other person for the purpose of inducing an abortion in accordance with the bill’s
requirements.
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Under the bill, a person who provides an abortion-inducing drug to another in
accordance with the criteria described above cannot be prosecuted based on a violation of
those criteria unless either of the following apply:
 The person knows that the person is not a qualified physician; or
 The person did not provide the abortion-inducing drug in accordance with the bill’s
provisions.1
Under current law, no person can knowingly give, sell, dispense, administer, or
otherwise provide RU-486 (mifepristone) to another for the purpose of inducing