Last week, the Ohio House voted on legislation that was breathtaking in its extremism: It would have banned all abortions after six weeks -- before many women even know they're pregnant.
First the good news: Legislators voted down the bill. That's a real and important victory for women in Ohio, and it does represent some progress. After all, the same legislation passed the House in 2011 before failing in the Senate.
But I'm just not able to get too excited about this. Yes, they defeated the ban, but celebrating the defeat of such an obviously terrible proposal is a hollow victory. While it's certainly good for the women of Ohio that the bill didn't advance, make no mistake about it: Extreme politicians remain fully committed to doing whatever they can to make sure that a woman can't get an abortion when she needs one.
After their failure in Ohio, and the crushing defeat of similar measures suffered on election night, they might change their approach.
But one thing you can be sure of: They haven't changed their goal.
