Update on the Republicans’ Move to Defund Planned Parenthood
Thanks to your efforts last week during the Republican’s latest attacks on women as they tried to defund Planned Parenthood and other preventive health care services, they pressed pause on their latest assault. Unfortunately for Ohioans, we expect that more of their attacks on women are right around the corner.
After discovering that buried within Kasich’s budget do-over bill was a sneaky way to ensure that Planned Parenthood lost all of its funding, there was no time to waste as we took action to fight for women across the state. Within a matter of hours, we had over 10,000 signatures on our petition to stand with Ohio women—and that number continues to grow. Together, we made our voices heard—and Ohio Republicans had to listen.
But make no mistake, their attacks on women have been ongoing, and we haven’t seen the last of them. Even while they yanked the plan from the budget bill yesterday, the Republican leadership was already reminding us that they have a separate Planned Parenthood defunding bill that will start to gain more traction in the Ohio House.
As the Columbus Dispatch reported today:
“In fact, GOP leaders said a separate Planned Parenthood defunding bill introduced last year is likely to start getting more attention.”
Ohio Right to Life, the group who behind closed doors has major influence over Republicans in the Statehouse, said yesterday:
“This issue is not over, and it’s not the last you’re going to hear from Ohio Right to Life.”
Republicans slowed down this recent attack because they knew you were paying attention, and that together we would continue our fight to protect these preventive health services for women.
But they’re determined to attack women’s preventive care and Planned Parenthood again, possibly very soon. We’ve shown that there truly is strength in numbers, so if you haven’t already, add your name to the list of Ohioans who are in it for the long-haul.