Planned Parenthood Releases Statement on Mike DeWine

COLUMBUS, OH –– Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio released the following statement after Attorney General Mike DeWine won the GOP primary for Governor:

Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin, Campaign Director, Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio:

“As attorney general, Mike DeWine has imposed his personal ideology and beliefs on Ohioans and the consequences are devastating. Mike DeWine’s dangerous crusade against reproductive health care has endangered tens of thousands of Ohioans and cost taxpayers potentially millions of dollars.

“Mike DeWine has no business making personal health care decisions on behalf of Ohioans –– and the fact that he puts his personal beliefs above the health care and the paychecks of hard working Ohioans should be disqualifying. Ohioans need a governor who will fight for them, not one who intentionally brings them down.”

Three things you need to know about Mike DeWine:

• Mike DeWine has recklessly defended dangerous and unconstitutional reproductive health care restrictions. Ohio taxpayers are footing the bill.
• According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, Mike DeWine could spend several million taxpayer dollars defending abortion bans.
• NBC 4 reported on how Mike DeWine’s defense of these bans is "a waste of lawmaker time and tax dollars"
• Ohio taxpayers were forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees for Mike DeWine’s false and “explosive accusations.”
• Mike DeWine is on a crusade to block over 80,000 Ohioans from accessing birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment at Planned Parenthood. In Ohio, over 80,000 people rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for care.
• In 2015, Mike DeWine launched a bogus and false attack on Planned Parenthood. After a four-month investigation, DeWine dropped the threat of legal action and wasted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in the process.
• Despite a federal judge and a federal appeals court ruling that “defunding” Planned Parenthood in Ohio was unconstitutional, Mike DeWine has twice appealed these federal court decisions. 
• Mike DeWine has worked secretly behind the scenes with anti-abortion groups to attack Planned Parenthood. Two investigations by the Associated Press found that DeWine was in “close contact” with anti-abortion groups during his Planned Parenthood investigation and that Paula Westwood, executive director of Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati, “shared tips” with DeWine about the investigation.
• Mike DeWine would ban abortion in the State of Ohio –– full stop. He has spent his career trying to make Ohio one of the most restrictive and hostile states in the country for reproductive health care, including access to safe and legal abortion.
• Mike DeWine supports a six week abortion ban that would effectively be an all-out abortion ban in Ohio, as it would make abortion illegal before most women know they are pregnant. In an interview on WKYC, Mike DeWine said, “Gov. Kasich vetoed the bill. I would have signed the bill.”

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