Nice little constitutional right you have, sweetheart. Be a shame if anything happened to it.

As Texas lawmakers try to pass the abortion restrictions that Democrats filibustered last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has signed one of the country’s most stringent antiabortion bills into law.

While Texas’ legislation was notable for packaging together several barriers to abortion, Ohio’s law contains something unique to the state. Clinics must have an agreement with a local hospital to transfer patients there in the case of an emergency, but public hospitals are barred from entering into those agreements. Opponents of the restriction say they will be used as an excuse to close clinics that have no way of complying.

Another way the new law is unusual: the director of the state department of health, a political appointee, has the unilateral power to revoke variances given to clinics without a transfer agreement. The director also determines whether transfer agreements are satisfactory.

Ohio’s history of antiabortion legislation made the confluence possible. In addition to the transfer agreement requirement for abortion clinics, the state has a longstanding ban on taxpayer funding of abortions and a requirement that abortion clinics be registered as ambulatory surgical centers.

A requirement for transfer agreements alone is more widespread in the country, though still relatively rare in the field of abortion restrictions. Eight states require them, according to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute. Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin are the other seven.

Abortion-rights advocates say that the agreements are not medically necessary, both because complications during abortions are rare and because in an emergency any patient would be admitted to a nearby hospital.

“We want clinics to be safe,” said Kellie Copeland, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, “But our fear is that this red tape, and really that’s all it is, will be used an excuse to close clinics.”

Abortion opponents counter that sending a patient to an emergency room on her own is not the same as having a settled relationship with a hospital.

Already, transfer agreements have made it difficult for Ohio abortion clinics to stay open. One of two clinics in Toledo closed earlier this year after losing its affiliation with the University of Toledo Medical Center. In fact, it was the University of Toledo agreement that inspired the legislation; the public hospital was under pressure from antiabortion advocates, including some state legislators, not to renew the agreement.

Only 18 of Ohio’s 207 hospitals are public, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. But in some regions (such as Toledo) there are no other hospitals that have been willing to enter into transfer agreements with abortion providers. The spread of religiously-affiliated medical centers adds to their concern.

One thing the two sides agree on: when it comes to abortion restrictions, Ohio is a trendsetter.