The Republican Party continues to hack away at reproductive rights around the country--and Ohio is the latest place to be targeted by anti-abortion forces. Governor John Kasich signed the state budget Sunday night--and included in the budget are a number of measures that would restrict abortion rights in the state. It was signed over the objections of protesters who descended on the state legislature.
“Wait until the first women dies; wait until the first doctor leaves Ohio,”warned one protester.
But the anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life praised the legislation. “It took great compassion and courage for our governor and pro-life legislature to stand up to the abortion industry that blatantly pressured them,” said Mike Gonidakis, the president of the group.
Compassion? Here's your "compassion", courtesy of the anti-choice movement:
- Gag orders on rape clinics counseling abortion options.
- Forced trans-abdominal ultrasounds.
- Planned Parenthood loses all state funding, $1.4 million, and that's being given to religious "crisis pregnancy centers" instead, who often provide false medical information about abortions.
- Clinics cannot transfer patients post-abortion to public hospitals.
- Doctors are forced to reveal how much money they make from providing abortion services, and must counsel women on adoption and crisis pregnancy options.
The virtual (and in some cases, actual) criminalization of failure to birth a child after pregnancy continues in the US. And let's not forget that the bill redefines the legal status of "pregnancy" and "fetus" to mean that IUDs are now technically abortions, meaning any woman who wants to get or keep an IUD now has to face all these restrictions, including the waiting period, counseling, and an ultrasound because they are "pregnant" under state law.
It's entirely conceivable that the morning after pill (Plan B) and even birth control medication could qualify as "ending a pregnancy" under these legal definitions, meaning -- you guessed it -- you'd be required to go through all the ridiculous hoops for abortions just to get Plan B or the pill.
And Ohio Republicans tacked all this on to the budget without a single minute of debate. And "moderate" Gov. John Kasich, who could have line-item vetoed any or all of these provisions, let the entire raft of them through without comment.
This is your modern GOP, folks. They despise women to the point of criminalizing them.
This is the reality in Ohio right now.
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