Columbus — Ohio Governor John Kasich has signed a bill to block a very safe and common method used in second trimester abortions. This is his 21st attack on abortion access and reproductive health care funding.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “John Kasich is reckless and irresponsible. He has now enacted 21 attacks on abortion access and reproductive health care funding during his eight years as governor. He has ignored pleas from Ohio’s medical community that politicians should not interfere with the doctor-patient relationship or block access to abortion care in our state. As a result of Kasich’s barrage of laws that criminalize doctors, many of the best and brightest medical providers have left Ohio, with still more deciding not to come here in the first place. Kasich’s actions today are his worst yet.”
Senate Bill 145 has no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman. These are exceptions Kasich has repeatedly said he needs to see to support a bill.
Copeland continued: “John Kasich’s word means nothing. That’s what voters across America need to know. Kasich has repeatedly signed bills banning rape and incest survivors from terminating a pregnancy caused by their assault. It is clear this is just a political talking point for Kasich and in no way a sincerely held moral conviction.”
On Ohio’s maternal mortality and infant mortality crisis, Copeland said: “Ohio families are suffering, and it is because of the failures of Ohio’s political leadership over the past eight years. Signing one abortion ban after another, attacking funding for reproductive health care providers — twice — and using the Ohio Department of Health as a political weapon to attack abortion clinics has worsened Ohio’s maternal mortality and infant mortality crises. This reproductive health care crisis has hit women of color the hardest, not because there is some genetic or biological difference between them and white women, but because systemic racism and policies like these exacerbate their unequal access to health care services.
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