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Tag: Center for Christian Virtue

  • Ohio coalition moves forward with plans for abortion ballot measure

    Ohio coalition moves forward with plans for abortion ballot measure

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    A coalition of reproductive rights groups, along with the ACLU of Ohio say they plan to have a pro-abortion ballot initiative on the Ohio Attorney General’s desk by February.

    Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom announced the plan to do this with the help of a recently hired “general consultant” with experience boosting ballot initiatives on the topic in two other states.

    The coalition – made up of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, the Ohio Women’s Alliance, Preterm-Cleveland, Pro-Choice Ohio and Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE), along with the ACLU of Ohio – said the amendment would “explicitly protect reproductive freedom for all Ohioans.”

    “We are working expeditiously and prudently because we know that skipping steps or rushing the process would be a reckless approach when stakes are so high,” said Erin Scott, co-founder and director of the Ohio Women’s Alliance, in a joint statement of ORP members.

    Mission Control, Inc., was hired by the group to help with the effort, after previously working on ballot initiative campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky, both of which showed voters in support of abortion rights. The company has offices in Washington, D.C., Connecticut, Colorado and California.

    ORP said it has “completed initial language drafting and is now moving into comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research and message testing.”

    Anti-abortion groups were quick to criticize the effort, saying support for the measure wouldn’t come in Ohio.

    “Any attempt to change Ohio’s constitution by these large out-of-state abortion groups will ultimately fail here in Ohio,” said Peter Range, Ohio Right to Life CEO, in a statement.

    The religious lobby group Center for Christian Virtue acknowledged Mission Control’s success in other states, but also said the Ohio effort is “doomed to fail.”

    CCV president Aaron Baer used his statement against the measure to support a joint resolution that would make it harder for the state constitution to be amended by raising the voting threshold to 60%. The measure was HJR 6 in the last General Assembly, and is now being led by state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, and state Rep. Derrick Merrin, R-Monclova.

  • DeWine signs abortion restriction likely to close SW Ohio clinics

    DeWine signs abortion restriction likely to close SW Ohio clinics

    Anti-abortion demonstrators march. (Photo by Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom).

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a new abortion law on Wednesday that looks likely to close Southwest Ohio abortion clinics.

    DeWine signed Senate Bill 157 without further comment, along with several other bills that passed through the legislature in their last work week before the holidays.

    The bill was condemned by abortion providers, who said not only that portions of the bill that direct doctors on the amount of care they should give babies born as a result of a “failed abortion” are already part of medical oaths and Ohio law, but that the bill would impact wanted pregnancies in which complications become a factor.

    “At this moment, we’re at a crisis point for abortion access in Ohio and across the country,” said Kersha Deibel, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio. “…Stripping abortion care from Southwest Ohio will cause havoc that disproportionately impacts our communities.”

    The Southwest Ohio region of Planned Parenthood also opposes the legislation because of changes to hospital transfer variance agreements between abortion providers and physicians, prohibiting for doctors who are funded by Ohio’s public medical schools from participating.

    “There is no medical justification for disallowing qualified, experienced physicians from agreeing to provide backup coverage for abortion providers under a variance,” said Dr. Adarsh Krishen, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. “In fact, if the state was genuinely concerned for patient safety, such physicians would be ideal. Instead, this provision is only meant to make it more challenging for abortion providers to remain licensed and operational.”

    The religious policy lobby Center for Christian Virtue praised the law and the potential shut down of Women’s Med Center in Dayton and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s clinic, saying the state “has made a bold statement about where our values lie.”

    DeWine did not comment on the bill with his announcement that the bill had been signed.

    The bill is one of a few pieces of abortion legislation brought by the legislature this year. Another measure would make abortion illegal with the rollback of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.