Case: Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region v. Ohio Department of Health

This is a challenge to Ohio's 2020 ban on telemedicine medication abortion.

On April 1, 2021, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region (PPSWO), a physician, and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio filed this lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio. The providers sued the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the ODH Director, the State Medical Board of Ohio, and three county prosecutors. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation and private counsel, the providers alleged that Senate Bill 260 (SB 260) unconstitutionally prohibited abortion providers from using telemedicine to provide medication abortion by requiring physicians to be physically present when patients consumed the initial dose of abortion-inducing drugs. They brought five claims under the Ohio Constitution, alleging violations of substantive due process, equal protection for patients and providers, and free choice in health care, along with a request for declaratory judgment. They sought a temporary restraining order, a preliminary and permanent injunction barring enforcement of SB 260, a declaration that SB 260 violated the Ohio Constitution, and attorneys' fees. The case was assigned to Judge Alison Hatheway.

On April 7, 2021, Judge Hatheway granted the providers' motion for a temporary restraining order. On April 20, 2021, Judge Hatheway granted the providers' motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that SB 260 violated equal protection by treating abortion providers differently from other physicians who could use telemedicine to prescribe identical medications for miscarriage treatment, and violated substantive due process by burdening fundamental rights without demonstrating any medical benefit.

Judge Hatheway denied the state defendants’ motion to dismiss on September 13, 2021. The case was stayed from July 2022 through late 2023, during which time the United States Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), returning regulation of abortion to the states. In November 2023, Ohio voters approved the Reproductive Freedom Amendment to the Ohio Constitution, which enshrined the right to abortion and prohibited the state from burdening, penalizing, prohibiting, interfering with, or discriminating against the exercise of that right, absent a showing that the state was using the least restrictive means to advance individual health in accordance with widely accepted, evidence-based standards of care.

On May 21, 2024, the providers filed an amended complaint adding three new plaintiffs – a nurse practitioner, a Cleveland clinic, and a medical group – as well as numerous additional defendants, including specific State Medical Board members and county prosecutors across Ohio. The amended complaint broadened the legal challenge beyond the telemedicine ban to also challenge restrictions on advanced practice clinicians (APCs) providing medication abortion, and the evidence-based use ban, which would prevent providers from using mifepristone for abortion care. It restructured the causes of action to lead with a claim under Ohio's new Reproductive Freedom Amendment, while removing the original healthcare freedom claim and adding extensive factual allegations about the safety and efficacy of medication abortion provided by various healthcare professionals. The providers simultaneously filed a second motion for a preliminary injunction targeting the newly challenged restrictions.

On August 29, 2024, Judge Hatheway granted the providers' second motion for a preliminary injunction, blocking enforcement of Ohio laws that prohibited APCs from providing medication abortion and restricted evidence-based use of mifepristone. The court found that these restrictions violated Ohio's Reproductive Freedom Amendment because they served no medical purpose and failed to advance patient health using the least restrictive means required under the amendment's evidence-based standards of care.

On February 26, 2025, the providers filed a third motion for a preliminary injunction and a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, both of which were granted by Judge Hatheway on July 8, 2025. The court found that three additional provisions–Ohio Revised Code sections 4723.28(B)(30) and 4730.25(B)(24), and Ohio Administrative Code 3701-47-01–which threatened professional discipline for APCs who provided medication abortions, were burdensome and discriminatory, and enjoined their enforcement against APCs providing medication abortions pending final judgment. The court held these provisions violated Ohio's constitutional right to reproductive freedom by discriminating against APCs seeking to provide medication abortion, even though Ohio permitted the same APCs to prescribe identical medications for non-abortion purposes, including miscarriage management.

On July 15, 2025, the providers filed their second amended complaint, which updated certain defendant names to reflect personnel changes, and added factual allegations regarding Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio's acquisition of Women's Med Dayton in December 2024. On January 13, 2026, the providers voluntarily dismissed their claims against the prosecutors for Butler County and Clark County based on the closure of PPSWO’s clinics in those counties. 

As of April 2026, the case is ongoing.