LOVELAND MAGAZINE

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Tag: women’s health care

  • Jane Gonzales and Patty Lawrence return and talk about the “new” Issue 1

    Jane Gonzales and Patty Lawrence return and talk about the “new” Issue 1

     

    “Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion”

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – Jane Gonzales from Loveland and Patty Lawrence from Miami Township returned to the LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV studio last week to talk about current politics and the activities they have been engaged in in recent months in the community.

    They discussed and answered questions about Ohio Issue 1 which will be on the General Election ballot on November 7. Yes, they talked about Issue 1 when they were last in the studio, and that Republican-led measure was soundly defeated.

    This November, Issue 1, which was a citizen-led effort, will ask voters to amend the Ohio Constitution to enshrine a woman’s “Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion”.

    In this interview, Gonzales and Lawrence tell viewers what their reaction was when the attempt to make it harder to circulate initiative petitions and would have raised the bar for citizen-led amendments to a 60% threshold failed in the special election in August. Both women campaigned against the change simultaneously while collecting signatures to have the right to make reproductive decisions including abortion on the Fall ballot. They opposed the August Issue 1. They are encouraging a “YES” vote on the citizen-led amendment.

    In this new interview, they discuss what the current Issue 1 will and won’t do and why they are encouraging voters to vote “YES” on the constitutional amendment.

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    The amendment as it would be in the Ohio Constitution

    [pdf-embedder url=”https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Right-to-Reproductive-Freedom-with-Protections-for-Health-and-Safety.pdf”]

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    ISSUE 1 BASICS (Leauge of Women Voters of Ohio)

    WHAT IS ISSUE 1 ABOUT?

    • Issue 1 relates to reproductive health care. Also known as “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety”, it would amend the Ohio Constitution, if passed by voters in November. 


    WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO VOTE YES ON ISSUE 1?

    • A “yes” vote supports amending the Ohio Constitution to restore the right to an abortion, as well as other reproductive health care such as fertility or miscarriage treatment : 

      • ​establish a state constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,”including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy; 

      • prohibit the state of Ohio from interfering with this constitutional right, except when the state demonstrates “that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care;” 

      • allow the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, defined as “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures;” and 

      • prohibit the state of Ohio from banning abortion when, in the professional judgment of a physician, an abortion “is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.” 


    WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1? 

    • A “no” vote opposes amending the Ohio Constitution to establish the constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.” This would allow the state to continue to create legislation relating to abortion and other reproductive health actions.


    WHAT HAPPENS IF ISSUE 1 PASSES? 

    • Abortion would go back to being legal up until viability of the fetus — as it had been for nearly half a century since Roe v. Wade.  Access to miscarriage care, to contraception, and to fertility treatments, as well as the right to remain pregnant, would also be protected under this amendment. Under this amendment, the state would be allowed to restrict abortion beyond viability, with exceptions made when a physician deems abortion necessary for the life or health of the pregnant patient.

    ​WHAT HAPPENS IF ISSUE 1 DOES NOT PASS?

    • Laws around abortion and other reproductive health care would continue to be made by state government. 

    • Right now, Ohio has a ban on abortion after the 6th week of pregnancy in place, but this ban has been temporarily blocked by a judge. The judgment blocking the ban has been challenged by the Ohio Attorney General on behalf of the state of Ohio, and is under review with the Ohio Supreme Court. If the Court rules in the state’s favor, the 6 week abortion ban will resume, making abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy illegal. This includes pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. 


    WHO IS LEADING THE CAMPAIGN TO PASS ISSUE 1? 

    • An organization named OURR – Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights– is heading Issue 1. According to their website, this is a coalition of statewide organizations that includes ACLU of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Ohio Women’s Alliance, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Preterm-Cleveland, Pro-Choice Ohio, and URGE. 


    WHO IS LEADING THE CAMPAIGN OPPOSING ISSUE 1? 

    • An organization named Protect Women Ohio is heading the opposition against Issue 1. According to their website, this is a coalition of people and organizations; no names are identified. 


    WHO ARE SOME SUPPORTERS OF ISSUE 1? 

    • American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Ohio Section

    • National Association of Social Workers 

    • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine


    WHO ARE SOME OPPONENTS OF ISSUE 1?

    • Center for Christian Virtue 

    • Ohio Catholic Conference 

    • Ohio Right to Life 

    ABORTION IN OHIO 

    WHAT IS THE CURRENT LEGAL STATUS OF ABORTION IN OHIO? 

    • ​On June 24, 2023, immediately after the Dobbs ruling, a federal judge lifted an injunction that had been placed on a law that made abortion after 6 weeks illegal in Ohio, including for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. That law had originally been passed in 2019 but blocked in court because it was unconstitutional according to Roe v. Wade; after Dobbs, the law was no longer unconstitutional. 

    • On September 14, 2023, a different judge blocked the 6 week ban, restoring abortion rights to Ohioans temporarily. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, representing the state, has challenged this ruling, and the Ohio Supreme Court is set to hear arguments later this month. If the Court rules in favor of the state, who brought the suit, abortion will again be banned after 6 weeks. 


    WOULD THE AMENDMENT AFFECT ANYTHING OTHER THAN ABORTION?

    • Yes. 

    • In addition to guaranteeing the right to abortion, the amendment would also protect the right to other reproductive health actions such as access to contraception, fertility treatment, and miscarriage care, as well as the right to continue a pregnancy. 

    ISSUE 1: FACTS vs. MISINFORMATION 

    CAN A PREGNANCY BE TERMINATED AT ANY TIME DURING A PREGNANCY? 

    • The amendment maintains the standard set by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which prohibits abortion after viability (which most doctors say is around 24 weeks), except in cases when the patient’s life or physical health would be endangered by maintaining the pregnancy. In those instances, determined by the patient’s physician, abortion would be a protected option.

    • Historically, abortion after viability is very, very rare, with 93.1% of abortions happening before 13 weeks gestation in 2020, and less than 1% over 21 weeks gestation. (CDC). Typically, abortion during this period only happen when there are severe fetal anomalies and/or the patient’s life or physical health is in danger. 


    HOW WOULD THIS AMENDMENT AFFECT PARENTAL RIGHTS? 

    • It wouldn’t. There is nothing in the amendment that changes Ohio laws around parental consent. 

    • Ohio law requires minors under the age of 18 to get consent from at least one parent when seeking an abortion. Minors who believe they are unable to tell a parent must get a court order from a judge through a process called judicial bypass. There is nothing in the amendment that would change this. 

    HOW WOULD THIS AMENDMENT AFFECT GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE? 

    • It doesn’t. There is nothing in the amendment that has anything to do with gender-affirming care.

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    Ohio’s county boards of elections have begun distributing ballots to active duty military and overseas voters, officially opening the November 7 general election.

     

     

    OCTOBER 31st:  DEADLINE TO REQUEST YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT

     

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  • New doctors want abortion training, struggle under regulations

    New doctors want abortion training, struggle under regulations

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    Students and in-training physicians say they are looking to other states for medical abortion education they need to do their jobs and finish their degrees. Medical schools, meanwhile, are doing what they can to link the students with that training.

    Shreekari Tadepalli began her final year in medical school at Ohio State thinking of how she would specialize, as most medical student do in their last year.

    “I knew I wanted to provide reproductive health care,” Tadepalli said.

    A Michigan native, she came to Ohio State specifically to go to medical school. She plans to stay, because she wants to fight for her patients as an OB/GYN, and advocate for abortion care as a normal part of medical care.

    “To me, medicine is like the ultimate form of advocacy, and I think physicians should be advocates for care,” Tadepalli told the OCJ.

    When the pandemic hit, Tadepalli headed back home to live with her parents, but she looked for ways to help. She heard a private clinic in Detroit needed staff, and she had the skills she needed to be of service there. While helping staff the clinic, she talked to the OB/GYNs about why they chose their profession, helping bolster her desire to become one herself.

    Tadepalli was upset, though unsurprised, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending the issue of abortion legality back to the states. Hours after the decision was made, she watched Ohio move forward with an abortion ban after six-weeks gestation, which had previously been tied up in court for years.

    “I think there was a certain amount of frustration that we’ve allowed ourselves to get to this point, when every poll says a majority of Americans support (legalized abortion),” Tadepalli said.

    A June poll from Suffolk University and the Cincinnati Enquirer showed 53% of Ohio voters supported abortion rights, and the Pew Research Center has consistently shown majorities of Ohioans as supporters of legal abortion.

    In August, the ACLU announced their own survey of Ohio voters, showing an 82% support rate for abortion legality in some form.

    A new set of complications arose for Tadepalli, in that she now had to figure out how to get training in abortion procedures and services after six-weeks, something that’s growing hard to find in a state where one clinic has already announced its closure due to regulations surrounding it.

    “One of the hardest things right now is because so few of these laws are based in medical practice,” Tadepalli said, “it has implications beyond the level of elective abortions.”

     COLUMBUS, OH — AUGUST 31: The Ohio State University College of Medicine Richard L. Meiling Hall, August 31, 2022, on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal / Republish photo only with original story)

    Ohio State said in a statement to the OCJ that they are working with professional organizations and medical groups as changes to training are reviewed nationwide.

    “We intend to continue offering the full spectrum of training in reproductive care for those residents who do not opt out of the requirement,” Mary Fiorino, spokesperson for the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “In order to ensure we are meeting national accreditation standards on this topic, we are exploring ways for our trainees to do that outside of the state of Ohio.”

    Another of Ohio’s medical schools, Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, also said they are keeping up with recommendations from medical groups and monitoring judicial and legislative changes in the state, but they still plan to train their students.

    “We believe it is important to continue to offer training related to the full spectrum of women’s health care so that students have the knowledge and skills they need to practice medicine and provide the best medical care possible in any community they choose to live and work,” Lisa Forster,  HCOM’s chief communication officer, said in a statement.

    Tadepalli also has residencies to consider, and while she wants to stay in Ohio, she said the questions she’s asking medical schools have changed somewhat.

    “If you’re in a state like Ohio, what is your guarantee that I can be the full physician that I should be?”

    Medical resident Alexandra Stiles is wondering the same thing as she reaches her last year of training before becoming a OB/GYN generalist. 

    A Virginia native who was a first-generation college student, Stiles said she wants to be able to develop medical relationships with her patients, from their first child to any other reproductive needs on down the line.

    That includes abortion care, which she emphasizes means more than just pregnancy termination, but the fetal anomalies that are fatal, or when a pregnant person’s water breaks, meaning the fetus won’t be able to make it to term.

    “People don’t really see that side of things,” Stiles said. “That in putting up that barrier to access, you’re not just preventing a woman from getting an abortion, you’re preventing us from caring for those people.”

    The fact that legislation is being used to regulate medical care, specifically for those that can become pregnant, makes Stiles want to “use my advocacy hat” for her patients, even if it means looking to other states and nonprofits for help.

    She worried recruitment to Ohio’s medical schools will be reduced without the ability to learn certain procedures, which would be a shame because she came to Ohio specifically because of the reputation Ohio State’s medical school had.

    In the future, Stiles hopes those making laws and deciding on the health care landscape in the state defer to the experts, the patients, and the doctors who work with them.

    “I’m not going to NASA and telling them how to fly their astronauts, and NASA wouldn’t come to me and tell me how to perform a hysterectomy,” Stiles said.

    Tadepalli sees politics as a “zero-sum game,” but advocacy for her patients as the way to effect change in their lives.

    “One of the things that helps me stay sane is reminding myself that most Americans are not behind a total ban on all abortions,” Tadepalli said. “I think it reminds me that there is some common ground on such a charged issue.”

    Follow OCJ Reporter Susan Tebben on Twitter.