On Sunday, Gov. John Kasich signed a bill that intends to defund Planned Parenthood, stripping the organization of state and federal funding that is used to provide services in 28 health clinics across Ohio.
Kasich has been a staunch and long-time opponent of abortion services, publically backing the idea of defunding Planned Parenthood while campaigning for the Republican nomination for president. This, coming from a man who claims that he was elected to the legislature because “many women … left their kitchens to go out and go door to door and to put yard signs up for (him).”
It’s no surprise that such an egregious and destructive decision was made on behalf of women across Ohio.
Granted, the new law would have no impact on abortion services, and it grants an exemption to abortions that are performed in cases of rape, incest or efforts to preserve the life of the mother.
However, Kasich is eliminating care and services that are provided for expectant mothers and newborns, birth control measures, imperative STD and HIV testing, cancer screenings, sexual education programs, and infant mortality prevention. He is depriving a program that contests domestic violence, and provides essential health care for women.
If ratified, this bill will redirect 1.3 million in state-directed funds from Planned Parenthood to federally eligible health centers that do not perform elective abortions or contract with organizations that do.
Whether or not this bill will be enacted remains up in the air – with the governor’s signature, the bill will become law in 90 days. But across the nation, Planned Parenthood has contested other defunding measures and, in some cases, the federal appeals courts have found those laws to be unconstitutional. Most recently, this occurred in Utah.
Interestingly, it seems the momentum behind this bill was driven by secretly-recorded videos that allegedly showed Planned Parenthood employees in other states selling aborted fetuses and fetal tissue.
An investigation by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine cleared Ohio clinics from this allegation. But lawmakers were not deterred, even after a Texas grand jury indicted the anti-abortion activist who filmed the videos of the innocent abortion provider. That same week, Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate approved the bill.
Kasich’s witch hunt is not merely a proud attempt to protect the unborn. Instead, he has waged war on the health and wellbeing of women across the state of Ohio.
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