Due to Ohio’s more recent abortion restrictions, which took effect this month, women’s health care in Ohio could be compromised.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich put the restrictions into the 2013 budget, and Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, said they were added at the last minute and went without debate.
Provisions included stripping funds from Planned Parenthood and directing welfare funding to pregnancy resource centers, which tend to provide anti-abortion solutions. The budget also included a provision that allows the patient the opportunity to view the fetal heartbeat pre-abortion, as well as a 24-hour waiting period between the consultation and procedure.
Phillips said that by cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, the state has turned against women.
“Planned Parenthood has a great track record and provides health care for low-income women,” Phillips said. “One of the unfortunate impacts is that by defunding planned parenthood, it cuts off access to other health care services. It doesn’t provide abortions; it provides breast and health care screenings for women who don’t typically have access.”
Phillips said she voted adamantly against the budget and thinks it is out of touch with what most Ohioans want.
Celeste Ribbins, spokeswoman for Ohio Planned Parenthood, said the new regulations have changed the way Planned Parenthood goes about the abortion referral process.
“It changes the way we discuss abortions with our patients,” she said. “We have to let them know that they’ll go through multiple appointments and the other specifics.”
Rachel Esselburn, director of the Athens Pregnancy Resource Center, was unable to comment extensively on the recent restrictions on Planned Parenthood but did say that the center was not expecting anything from the bill, as it does not utilize state and federal funding.
Because Athens Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform abortions, Ribbins said it won’t be affected by the new provisions.
Rob Dressel, a freshman studying aviation, said he believes the laws are restrictive and unconstitutional.
“It was a sneaky political maneuver,” Dressel said. “They shouldn’t have put it into the budget like that.”
More than half of all induced abortions involved pregnancies of nine weeks or less, according to the Ohio Department of Health, suggesting that Ohio women are already taking the necessary precautions to make their decision well-informed.
Phillips said the new restrictions that make it difficult to obtain an abortion are unnecessary, adding there is a possibility of a statewide lawsuit because the issue was not debated on.
“A lot of these provisions treat women as if they’re too stupid to know the importance of the decision that they’re making. It’s already the case that someone from our region would be driving to another city; that barrier of travel was already there,” said Phillips. “The additional public shaming that goes along with it is what’s new. It’s unnecessary and unkind.
“We’ll see; there’s going to be a lawsuit. It’s been filed.”
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