Columbus — Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland issued the following response to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s annual State of the State address.
“Mike DeWine and his cronies have failed to make their case on abortion with Ohioans and the American people. Instead of respecting what their fellow citizens think and say, they are abusing their positions to impose their worldview on everyone else. That is not patriotic. That is not democratic. Those are not Ohio values. Those are not American values.
“Governor DeWine has weaponized the Ohio Department of Health against abortion clinics, when he should have used them as a regulatory partner to help ensure that patients are getting the best care. Planned Parenthood and other family planning centers have been defunded. Abstinence only sex education, which is dangerously ineffective, has been if not the law of the land, certainly the policy of the land. The state has made dismal progress — if any — on infant and maternal mortality. Abortion is one piece of a larger set of issues around reproductive rights, health, justice, and freedom that have frankly deteriorated drastically over the last 10 years.
“Now is the time for action. We, and the next generation, are at risk of losing the fundamental freedom to decide when and if and how to have a family, what happens inside our own bodies. But we are not helpless. We can vote in this election. We can vote for people, like Mayor Nan Whaley, who share our values and will fight for them. We can make our voices heard right now about redistricting and the failure of leadership by Mike DeWine and the redistricting commission that has decided that they would rather rule over the people Ohio than serve the people of Ohio.”
Ohio has nine abortion clinics open for patients across the state; six of them offer full abortion services and three others provide medication abortion. Find the full list on our website: https://prochoiceohio.org/clinics/