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Statement from Eric Ferrero, Vice President of Communications for Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“John Kasich’s record doesn’t match his rhetoric --- and when you look at the legislation he’s enacted as Governor, it shows that he has anything but compassion for the women of Ohio. He has signed laws that prohibit crisis counselors from giving rape survivors information about abortion services and force women to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound -- even if she doesn’t want one and her doctor doesn’t recommend one. Kasich has enacted so many restrictions on providers that some Ohio women now have to drive to Michigan just to receive a safe, legal abortion. There’s a reason Kasich has tried to keep his extreme views on women’s health under the radar — they’d make him unelectable with the general public. The truth is that Kasich has made life hell for any woman seeking an abortion in Ohio, and, if elected President, he’d do the same thing for women across America.”
 

Fact: Kasich has devoted much of his time in office restricting Ohio women’s access to abortion.

How Ohio Gov. John Kasich Is Making Life Hell for Women Seeking Abortions:  “Since Kasich entered office in 2011, he has enacted 16 anti-abortion measures. Some directly restrict abortion access, such as the 20-week late-term ban that he signed six months after entering office. Others limit the work of abortion providers. For example, in 2013 he signed the state's budget bill, which included one provision that prohibits state-funded rape crisis counselors from referring women to abortion services and another that stripped Planned Parenthood of an estimated $1.4 million in federal family-planning dollars. The measures have had drastic consequences for access to abortion and medical care for Ohio women: During Kasich's time in office, the number of abortion providers in the state has dropped from 16 to eight.” [Mother Jones, 7/27/15]

  • MANDATORY ULTRASOUND:A requirement that doctors test for a fetal heartbeat by giving a state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasound – even if women don’t want one, and if their doctor doesn’t recommend one. Then inform the patient seeking an abortion in writing of the presence of that heartbeat, and then provide statistical likelihood that the fetus could be carried to term. The doctor’s failure to do so would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to six months in jail, for the first violation and a fourth-degree felony, carrying up to 18 months in jail, for subsequent violations. [Toledo Blade, 7/8/13]

  • TRAP PROVISIONS: A prohibition against public hospitals or the physicians affiliated with them entering into written agreements with ambulatory surgical centers that perform abortions to accept their patients in case of emergency. The clinics must have such agreements in place as a condition of their licenses. [Toledo Blade, 7/8/13]

  • According to the Huffington Post, "[I]f a woman is able to obtain an abortion in Ohio and develops some sort of medical issue during the procedure, clinics will no longer be allowed to transfer these patients to public hospitals for additional care. In the midst of a crisis, these patients must find a private hospital to help them." [Huffington Post, 7/1/13]

  • REDEFINES MOMENT OF CONCEPTION: The bill redefines a fetus as “developing from the moment of conception,” rather than when a fertilized egg has been implanted in the uterus. [Columbus Dispatch, 7/1/13]

FACT: According to the Toledo Blade, under Gov. Kasich’s administration, nearly half of Ohio’s abortion clinics closed.

  • “But the law had the effect of shutting down nearly half of Ohio’s abortion clinics, which is exactly what lawmakers intended it to do. Many abortion providers can’t get transfer agreements because hospitals face intense pressure from anti-abortion activists to deny them.” [Toledo Blade, 6/22/15]

  • “In terms of the areas where high number of clinics have recently been shuttered, Ohio ranks second only to Texas. And Ohio isn’t stopping there. Aside from the proposed budget, lawmakers have also been advancing a 20-week abortion ban; the state senate approved that legislation just last week. For years, reproductive rights groups have been warning that Ohio is becoming one of the worst states for abortion access. At the end of last week, the Plain Dealer’s editorial board also sounded the alarm: 'These draconian rules aimed at closing Ohio’s abortion clinics appear to be a thinly veiled effort to get before the U.S. Supreme Court a challenge to Roe v.Wade, the case that legalized abortion,' the newspaper wrote in reference to the proposed budget bill.” [Think Progress, 6/29/15]

  • “Since Kasich entered office in 2011, he has enacted 16 anti-abortion measures. Some directly restrict abortion access, such as the 20-week late-term ban that he signed six months after entering office. Others limit the work of abortion providers. For example, in 2013 he signed the state's budget bill, which included one provision that prohibits state-funded rape crisis counselors from referring women to abortion services and another that stripped Planned Parenthood of an estimated $1.4 million in federal family-planning dollars. The measures have had drastic consequences for access to abortion and medical care for Ohio women: During Kasich's time in office, the number of abortion providers in the state has dropped from 16 to eight.” [Mother Jones, 6/27/15]

FACT: Under Kasich, Ohio women are driving to Michigan just to access safe, legal abortion:

  • “Michigan abortion clinics see an influx of Ohioans...Ms. Chilean said she began to notice women coming from Ohio to the Michigan clinics about two years ago when Ohio law changed and banned abortions after 22 weeks.” [Toledo Blade, 3/23/14]

  • “Both sides agree that one factor in Michigan's upsurge in abortions is an influx of women coming from Ohio, where several abortion clinics recently closed. According to Michigan's health department, abortions for nonresidents jumped from 708 in 2013 to 1,318 in 2014.” [CBS News, 6/8/15]

FACT: A majority of Americans support access to safe, legal abortion.

  • More Americans now consider themselves pro-choice than pro-life. [VOX, 5/12/15]

  • 68 percent of Millennials don't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. [Pew Research Center, 1/16/13]

  • A 2012 exit poll results show two-thirds of Latinos agreed abortion should be legal (66 vs. 28 percent who disagreed). In fact, Latino voters were more supportive of legal abortion than voters overall (59 percent overall supported legal abortion vs. 37 who disagreed). [ABC News, 11/6/12]

FACT: Women’s health was a deciding issue in the 2012 presidential election.

  • In 2012, Hart Research found that Mitt Romney and many Republican candidates’ views on women’s health were not only out of step with the majority of voters — they cost those Republicans in the election. [Hart Research, 12/6/12]

  • 62 percent of all voters disagreed with Romney’s position to end funding for Planned Parenthood’s health services, including 66 percent of women voters. [Hart Research, 12/5/12]

  • 61 percent of all voters (including 63 percent of women voters) disagreed with Romney’s position to overturn Roe v. Wade. [Hart Research, 12/5/12]

FACT: In Virginia in 2013, women’s health was a deciding factor.

  • “Democrat Terry McAuliffe won the Virginia’s governor’s race narrowly on the strength of women’s votes, by an eight-point margin–slimmer than several polls had predicted…Because African-American, Latina, and unmarried women turned out in numbers close to Barack Obama’s 2012 election, McAuliffe won women overall–and with them, the election. He also won 59% of the votes of people who said abortion was the most important issue to them, who made up 20% of the electorate.” [MSNBC, 11/5/13]

FACT: Support for women’s health is still a deciding issue for voters in swing states.

  • A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research survey commissioned by NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood in four key battleground states (CO, IA, NH, NC) found that a candidate’s support or opposition to women’s health was one of the most persuasive issues for voters. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

  • The most persuasive reason to vote against a candidate was the charge that he or she “opposes a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion in all circumstances, including rape, incest, and when the health of the woman is in danger.” [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

  • Nearly six in ten voters reported that protecting women’s access to health care was a very important issue to them in deciding how to vote. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

  • Eighty-six percent said protecting women's access to cancer screenings and birth control was an important issue in their voting decision -- just as important as education and Social Security/Medicare. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

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