Texas, Arkansas and other parts of the Old Confederacy get the press for repressive abortion laws and voter suppression. However, Ohio is beacon of inspiration for those who wish to end access to safe legal abortions. Laws passed in Ohio are used as templates in places like Texas and Mississippi.
Here in Ohio the legislature has taken upon itself to rewrite medical definitions. pregnancy, in Ohio, now is defined as beginning at conception rather than implantation as it defined by the medical community.This puts the use of some contraceptives at odds with the law as they may prevent implantation. This would make an IUD an abortion causing medical device. Thus, a woman needing one will be required to have the forced ultra sound, the lecture that blames breast cancer on abortion (even if there is no evidence of causality).
Ohio requires abortion providers to have a transfer agreement with a local hospital to remain open. These agreements are to ensure prompt treatment of any complications. Other medical out patient clinics are not required to have such agreements. These are popular anti-choice techniques used to limit access. Ohio goes one step further by forbidding public hospitals( e.g Ohio State University Hospital) from entering into such agreements. Now, since many of Ohio's private Hospitals have religious affiliation this can force clinic closure due to an inability to secure a transfer agreement with private hospitals.
A provider in Toledo is trying to arrange an agreement with a Michigan hospital just across the border. The State Health Department, which regulates abortion providers seems ready and willing to argue a Michigan hospital, no matter how close, is not a local healthcare provider and therefor unacceptable.
I mentioned a lecture earlier. In Ohio, a doctor must read from a State approved script which is rife with unfounded and debunked medical information. This accompanies the waiting period required before a procedure is performed. By the way, no other procedure is required to have a waiting period and lecture designed to have the effect of trying to have a patient to decline by changing their mind.
Ohio has also went with the regulation to require abortion providers to upgrade their facilities to those of an ambulatory surgical center. This is an expensive and unnecessary remodel. It is opposed by Ohio Doctors but was imposed by the Republican legislature in their superior wisdom.
The goal is closing all abortion providers in the State of Ohio. Mike Gonadakis, head of Ohio Right To Life reminds us that women can go out of State. There is no law about mileage or travel time in the definition of access.
Ohio is leading the charge to end safe and legal abortion. It is weaving a web of regulation and restriction to stifle access in the State. It is doing so by pushing gray areas and moving up to the edge of Roe v Wade without flagrant violation.
The laws passed in Ohio are being copied in Texas and across the old Confederacy. Even laws that haven't passed here are copied. The Heartbeat bill is one. It prohibits abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat. This often happens before a woman even realizes they're pregnant.
Governor Kasich and the Tea Party /fundie legislature are up for reelection in 2014. Women's rights have been under assault here since 2011. It's time to remove the threat at te ballot box.It is time to restore Ohio's reputation as a moderate. sane political state.
Political disagreement and debate is a needed part of a representative Democracy. It does however require being based on facts. Codification of conservative Christian cults ideology is wrong and the antihisis of what our founders envisioned.
So, it is time to take back Ohio from the deranged right wing and return to sanity in our discourse. All politics are local. So, the beast way to say no is to vote a straight Democratic ballot. Donate. Volunteer and VOTE!
