Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures available to women and yet these bills would make it illegal in Ohio. Abortion is a deeply personal and often complex decision for a woman and her family. Women don’t turn to politicians for advice about mammograms, prenatal care, or cancer treatments; politicians should not be involved in a woman’s personal medical decisions about her pregnancy.
Conservatives in the Ohio Senate recently passed Senate Bill 28, an abortion ban that requires the burial of fetal tissue, imposing a medically unnecessary funeral ritual on patients choosing abortion. There is clearly no purpose of Senate Bill 28 other than to stigmatize and shame women who have already made the personal decision to have an abortion.
House Bill 258 would prevent women from getting abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before some women even know they are pregnant. It would take away a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions before she would even know she had a decision to make. Senate Bill 145 bans the most common form of second trimester abortion, the D&E procedure. The only alternative to this procedure would be to induce a woman to go into early labor, significantly increasing the risk of harm to the woman and establishing yet another financial barrier.
These types of abortion bans have been struck down as unconstitutional by state and federal courts across the country. There is no question that these bills are unconstitutional. Whenever similar measures have passed in other states, they have only led to costly litigation.
Call Fred Strahorn (District 39) at (614) 466-1607
Call Michael Henne (District 40) at (614) 644-8051
Call Jim Butler (District 41) at (614) 644-6008
Call Niraj Antani (District 42) at (614) 466-6504
Call Jeff Rezabek at (District 43) (614) 466-2960
Don’t see your legislator here? Don’t know who they are? Visit this website to find out who they are and how to contact them: http://www.ohiohouse.gov/
Call Script:
Hi, my name is [NAME], and I’m calling from [ADDRESS]. As a constituent of your house district, I urge you to vote NO on Senate Bill 28, House Bill 258 and Senate Bill 145.
Senate Bill 28, House Bill 258 and Senate Bill 145, in addition to the other bills being considered and passed by the Ohio General Assembly, are part of a larger coordinated attack on Ohioans’ constitutional right to abortion. Each of these bans effectively shames and punishes women for their right to bodily autonomy and takes away the freedom to make the best decision for herself and her family.
Please vote NO on Senate Bill 28, House Bill 258 and Senate Bill 145.