Ok, guys, time to end forever the gushing praise of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Sure, he did the right thing (i.e. his job) in the face of the pandemic, like a lot of other governors. Sure, he stood out because most of those other governors are Democrats, and a lot of Republican governors are still trying to pretend the pandemic doesn’t exist or isn’t a big deal.
Yesterday, Ohio attorney general Dave Yost exploited the crisis in the cruelest and most political way by announcing an end to all “non-essential and elective” surgical abortions. I am certain he didn’t do this without the approval of the radical anti-choice DeWine. In essence, they’ve decided to use a back door method to achieve what they have always wanted, which is to make abortion unavailable in Ohio. You know they’ll take their own sweet time announcing that the ban is lifted, if indeed they ever do.
While Yost says he has “received complaints” about abortion clinics (yeah, I’m sure from the same old anti-choicers such as Candice Keller and Janet Folger Porter), clinics such as Preterm in Cleveland were going to extraordinary lengths to protect their patients.
Women, families and children are already struggling economically in Ohio, which had its worst year for job creation since the recession of 2008, in 2019. And following that recession, Ohio never really recovered: throughout most of John “Not a Moderate” Kasich’s governorship (2011-2019), it lagged the country in job creation.
Now imagine you are a low-wage working woman who has lost her job or is laid off. Maybe you’ve lost your health coverage in the process. You’re already frantic about how you’re going to feed the two kids you have (almost 60% of women opting for abortion already have children). Having a child is one of the biggest drivers of poverty for women and families. Now you’re looking at: a. no access to pre-natal or post-natal health care, b. a delivery you can’t possibly afford, and c. a lifetime of increased poverty for yourself and all your children. Perhaps you are even cooped up with an abuser during quarantine who rapes you and makes you pregnant.
That Yost, virtually certainly with DeWine’s collusion, would use a pandemic that already has people frightened and desperate to increase the fear and desperation of Ohio women to score nakedly partisan points is depravity and cruelty beyond belief.
Kellie Copeland of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio (yay, Kellie, an amazing champion for reproductive rights! I love you, Kellie!) said, “Abortion care is a time-sensitive medical situation that cannot be significantly delayed without profound consequences. Ohioans are continuing to rely on their trusted community abortion providers during this crisis, and Ohio’s elected officials should not stand between patients and their doctors. Abortion is an essential health service. Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio Right to Life president and State Medical Board member Mike Gonidakis should not be exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to further their agenda to close Ohio’s abortion clinics.”
In her statement, she continues, “People decide to end their pregnancies for a complex constellation of reasons that include the impact of pregnancy and birth on their health, ability to work, and strained economic circumstances. These are conditions that do not go away—and are likely heightened—in pandemic conditions. Denying or delaying abortion care places an immediate burden on patients, their families, and the health system, and can have profound and lasting consequences.”
This is the real face of Ohio Republicans: not the governor who does the right thing in the face of a crisis, but ghouls who can’t stop promoting their partisan agenda, no matter what the cost.