With a bill stripping funding from Planned Parenthood expected to move and other abortion-related legislation in the mix, abortion-rights supporters joined female Democratic lawmakers Tuesday to tell Republicans to back off.
“Ohio does not want to turn the clock backward and hand over to politicians the personal medical decisions that belong to a woman, her family, and her faith in consultation with her health care provider,” Stephanie Kight, Ohio CEO of Planned Parenthood, said at a Statehouse news conference. “Put aside this vendetta against Planned Parenthood and put women’s health care first,” she added.
GOP lawmakers are expected to push forward Wednesday by passing a bill out of a House committee that would shift about $2 million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood to other community health centers around the state. Planned Parenthood has a budget of $24 million. The federal funds cannot be used for abortions.
And more abortion-related legislation could be on the horizon, including the so-called heartbeat bill, a ban on all abortions once a heartbeat can be detected in the fetus.
That legislation has been stalled in the Ohio Senate while anti-abortion groups try to unite behind the proposal, but could have fresh momentum if a deal is struck during the Ohio legislature’s lame duck session.
While abortion-rights supporters have said the funding shift will hurt women’s access to health care across the state, supporters of the legislation dispute this point.
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