Rob Portman, why are you so terrible for women in Ohio?

For Immediate Release: Aug. 29, 2016

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Washington, DC –– Let’s take a look at what’s happened to Ohioans’ access to reproductive health care since Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate six years ago.

 

Since his election, the state of Ohio has passed more restrictions on women’s health than Texas. These restrictions have been devastating –– nearly half the abortion providers in the state have shuttered, women have been going to Michigan to access safe, legal abortion, and with an expected appeal by the state, access to health care and education for tens of thousands of Ohioans is at risk.

 

All along the way, these restrictive measures have been met with an outcry by public health experts in Ohio. See here,here,here, and here.

 

So what does Rob Portman call these restrictions, like the state’s ban on abortion after 20 weeks of gestation? “Progress.”

 

That’s right. Women losing access to reproductive health care is “progress” to Rob Portman.

 

Quote from Amelia Hayes, Planned Parenthood Votes

“We can’t afford six more years of Rob Portman. For six years, he’s put his extreme anti-women’s health ideology above the health and lives of women in our state. Restricting access to abortion and other reproductive health care, like STI testing, cancer screenings, and even sex education is not progress. It’s dangerous. We need to elect people who understand that and who will fight for women’s health care. That’s why we’re knocking on doors and making phone calls, and doing everything we can to elect Ted Strickland as our next U.S. Senator.”

 

Rob Portman’s Terrible Record on Women’s Health Care

• Rob Portman has voted seven times to defund Planned Parenthood and block Ohioans from access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing. 80,000 Ohioans rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for care every year and 65 percent of his constituents support the organization.

• Rob Portman called Roe v. Wade an infamous decision and has bragged about having voted “77-0” in favor of anti-abortion legislation.

• Rob Portman opposes the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act. He wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking the Department of Justice to halt its implementation. This legislation helped 55 million women across the country gain access to no-copay birth control.

• Rob Portman voted against an amendment to require states to to use Medicaid funds to pay for abortion services for low-income women, in cases in which the  pregnancy was the result of rape incest, or threatened the life of the mother.

• Rob Portman supported denying privately funded abortion services to victims of rape or incest at overseas military medical facilities.