Ohio House Continues Assault on Reproductive Freedom with Passage of S.B. 260

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio
For Immediate Release – December 17, 2020
Contact: Laurel Powell, Director of Media Relations, [email protected]

Ohio House Continues Assault on Reproductive Freedom with Passage of S.B. 260

COLUMBUS, OH — Days after threatening abortion access and infringing on the rights of those seeking abortions with the passage of Senate Bill 27, the Ohio House of Representatives has passed Senate Bill 260, and sent it to Gov. DeWine for his signature. If allowed to take effect, S.B. 260 would place a blanket ban on abortions performed with the use of telemedicine, and would cut off access to safe, legal abortion for patients who currently have difficulty accessing a health care provider especially for these services.

Bans on use of telemedicine for medication abortion are not based in concern for patient safety, but an intent to eliminate access to safe, legal abortion and have already been blocked by courts in other states. The Iowa Supreme Court declared a ban on telemedicine abortions to be unconstitutional in 2015, citing the lack of medical support for prohibiting it, and noting that the Iowa Board of Medicine’s medical concerns about telemedicine “are selectively limited to abortion.”

Statement from Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio:

“This bill does not improve patient safety, or access to care, or health outcomes. It will only expand the difference in care we see between the wealthy and the poor, urban and rural, and white and black. It would push equal access to safe, quality health care further out of reach, in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Once again, Ohio’s lawmakers have put politics ahead of science and of good health.

Telemedicine is a vital tool for all health care providers, Planned Parenthood included. It expands access to care for patients located far away from health care providers. And for a growing number of patients, it is the primary way they interface with their health provider. Facts are facts: the majority of Ohioans support access to safe, legal abortion. This bill is about playing politics, not keeping patients safe. It’s about putting even more barriers in front of someone who wants an abortion. Ohioans deserve better.”

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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio supports advocacy for reproductive health and reproductive rights, including grassroots organizing, community education, and lobbying. www.ppao.org