Uncategorized

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Columbus, OH — After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, Republican politicians like Mike DeWine and Dave Yost wasted no time in working to rip away reproductive rights from millions of Ohio women. And with Mike DeWine promising to go “as far as we can” to strip away abortion rights, Ohioans can expect an onslaught of anti-choice attacks in the coming weeks and months.

With so much on the line, one of the few checks on extreme anti-choice Republicans is the Ohio Supreme Court. Ohioans expect their Supreme Court justices to rule fairly and impartially, upholding the rule of law. When it comes to a woman’s right to choose, however, the conservative justices on the Supreme Court have a long record of playing politics and doing the bidding of their political donors.

With so much at stake this November, reproductive rights are on the ballot, especially in the Supreme Court races.

Read more below:

Justices Kennedy, DeWine and Fischer All Voted to Close Toledo’s Only Remaining Abortion Clinic: 

• Capital Care Network Of Toledo v. Department of Health – By a 5-2 split, the Court upheld the state’s decision to close Toledo’s only abortion clinic.
• In its ruling, the Court overturned a lower court ruling in the case, stating the Department of Health could revoke Capital Care’s facility license.

Sharon Kennedy Has Faced Multiple Ethics Complaints Over Her Conflicts of Interest in Abortion Cases: 

• March 2017: Kennedy spoke at an anti-choice fundraiser in Toledo. The speech came just two days after the court agreed to hear the Capital Care Network case.
• July 2017: Kennedy faced two ethics complaints related to her fundraising appearance, citing the conflict created by Kennedy supporting an anti-choice organization while ruling on the future of an abortion clinic in Toledo. Kennedy refused to recuse herself from the case.
• 2020-2022: Since then, Kennedy has received at least $700 in campaign contributions from anti-choice organizations

Pat DeWine Shares His Dad’s Anti-Choice Record: 

• January 2004: As a Cincinnati City Councilman, DeWine voted for a motion to insist future healthcare contracts exclude abortion coverage for city workers. The motion was ultimately rejected.
• October 2012: DeWine received a campaign donation from Cincinnati Right to Life PAC

Pat Fischer has a long history of taking campaign cash from anti-choice groups. 

• October 2012: Fischer received a campaign donation from Cincinnati Right to Life PAC
• March 2022: Fischer endorsed by Ohio Right to Life PAC

“In races up and down the ballot, reproductive rights and abortion access are on the line this November. Justices Kennedy, DeWine and Fischer have shown Ohioans that they will eagerly rubber stamp efforts by extreme politicians to rip away our rights instead of doing their jobs and upholding the law fairly and impartially,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

###

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Columbus, OH — After the Supreme Court ruled to strip reproductive rights from millions of women across the country, Ohio is now poised to be one of the most radical states in the country when it comes to anti-abortion laws. The contrast in this race couldn’t be clearer: Nan is fighting every day to protect the right to choose and abortion rights in this state. Mike DeWine is fighting every day to rip them away.

DeWine: 

DeWine has said he would “go as far as we can” to attack women’s reproductive rights in Ohio, proved by his signature on an executive order to instate the six-week abortion bill just hours after the Supreme Court ruling. DeWine has said he is ready to sign radical legislation into law after the Supreme Court ruled, including a ban that would make no exception for rape or incest. DeWine fought to defund Planned Parenthood and pushed for the closure of clinics around the state. He also voted to prohibit military women and female military dependents from obtaining privately-funded abortions on overseas military bases.

Whaley: 

Meanwhile, Nan Whaley just this week announced that, as Governor, she would support and help pass a ballot initiative to codify the protections afforded by Roe v. Wade into the Ohio Constitution. Whaley has also pledged to veto any anti-choice legislation that reaches her desk and appoint a pro-choice director of the Ohio Department of Public Health.

Nan also has a proven track record on choice issues: When she was Mayor, she led the fight against Ohio’s medically unnecessary transfer agreement that threatened to shutter a regional women’s medical center. Her strong record on choice is why groups like Pro-Choice Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, EMILY’s List and the Ohio Democratic Women’s Legislative Caucus have all endorsed her.

“The contrast in the Ohio governor’s race on a woman’s right to choose could not be more clear: Nan Whaley is doing all she can to protect reproductive rights while Mike DeWine is doing all he can to strip them away. Ohio deserves a governor who takes a stand. Ohio needs a leader, not a coward. Ohio deserves Nan Whaley,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

###

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Columbus, OH — In a wild interview with Taylor Popielarz of Spectrum News, Frank LaRose continued his never-ending balancing act, embracing obvious election lies as a way to wink and nod to MAGA Republicans while he pretends not to know better – all so he can lose a Senate race in two years. LaRose earlier in the interview called himself a ‘referee’ when it comes to elections in Ohio and then turned around and embraced radical conspiracy theories even though he knows these lies are untrue.

In the interview, LaRose says “I’m not an expert on this” when asked his opinion about the former president asking secretaries of state to find votes and said “there were things that went wrong” & “it’s an unknowable thing” when asked about claims the 2020 election was stolen. And when asked about J.D. Vance’s embrace of the dangerous Great Replacement Theory said: “I don’t know exactly what J.D. meant by that.”

“Frank LaRose knows the election wasn’t stolen and what MAGA Republicans did to overturn the election was wrong, but he’s so focused on running for U.S. Senate in two years, he’s pretending not to know better. Frank LaRose’s political phoniness reaches new heights by the day, and he can no longer pretend to play ‘referee.’ He’s clearly chosen his team and is pulling for them any way he can,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

You can see the full interview here as well as key remarks below:

Claims of Elections Tampering: 

• Taylor Popielarz: What do you make of the former president asking election officials to find votes to be, you know, propose fake sets of electors?
• LaRose: Yeah, I’m not an expert on this. The things that I’ve heard, sound, in some ways unclear to me. What was being asked for, right?

On the 2020 Election Being Stolen:

• Taylor: When you and I last sat here last September, I had asked you point-blank if you thought the 2020 election was stolen, and you said, “I won’t say stolen but I will say this, there were some states that didn’t do the right thing.” And then I asked you a little bit after that if there was any scenario that you saw, looking back at it, where Trump could have won the Electoral College, and you said quote, “probably not.” Do you still stand by both of those statements?
• LaRose: I think it’s unlikely that there would have been anything that would have put one candidate over 270 electoral votes versus another, but there were things that went wrong…So the question comes up, would that have- if any of those things had been done differently, would that have changed the results of the election? It is, technically speaking, an unknowable thing.

On J.D. Vance and His Embrace of Great Replacement Theory:

• Taylor: After the awful mass shooting in Buffalo, I saw when you were asked by some reporters about the concept of the Great Replacement Theory and comments JD has made that seem to line up with that. He has said on Fox News earlier this year and a broader sentence about who he feels is engaging in this that Democrat politicians who have decided that they can’t win reelection in 2022 unless they bring in a large number of new voters to replace the voters who are already here, and he called it an invasion. So I know you said at the time you weren’t aware of what he was saying about it and what he was being accused of. That was the main statement and I saw what you said on Twitter afterward, where you said “like most Ohioans, I’m with JD Vance on this issue, lawful immigration matters.” But you also said what happened in Buffalo was racist murder. So my question for you is: Do you agree with Vance that Democratic politicians are bringing in a large number of new voters in an invasion to replace voters that are already here?”
• LaRose: Yeah. So I don’t know exactly what JD meant by that. I can tell you that I know the man. I know that he’s not a racist. That’s not who he is. In fact, his wife is- is a person of foreign descent and he’s got people on his campaign that are of all different ethnical backgrounds. And so you know, it’s up to him to- to answer what it means for that.

###

Intel CEO: “It’s such a pivotal moment if we don’t act now. Please don’t dither in Congress over petty partisanship.”

Columbus, OH – Yesterday, Mitch McConnell blew up bipartisan negotiations on urgently-needed legislation to invest in American semiconductor manufacturing – including vital funding for Intel to create 3,000 jobs in Licking County. 

The delay in passing this bill is already taking its toll on Ohio. Last week, Intel sounded the alarm, saying, “Unfortunately, CHIPS Act funding has moved more slowly than we expected and we still don’t know when it will get done. It is time for Congress to act so we can move forward at the speed and scale we have long envisioned for Ohio and our other projects to help restore U.S. semiconductor manufacturing leadership and build a more resilient semiconductor supply chain.” This funding is essential to help level the playing field for American companies and workers to compete with countries around the world that are dominating the semiconductor industry. 

Mitch McConnell standing in the way of Ohio jobs could put J.D. Vance and Mike DeWine in a precarious political position. J.D. Vance has already proposed giving up on bringing manufacturing jobs back to Ohio. He said, “A 55-year-old worker in Dayton, Ohio who spent his entire life in manufacturing… he may not be able to find a good-paying job for the rest of his working life.” Mike DeWine has touted the Intel plant coming to Ohio in a campaign video but refused to take on Mitch McConnell who is standing in the way of Intel breaking ground on a new plant in Ohio. 

“J.D. Vance and Mike DeWine must demand that Mitch McConnell stop holding Ohio jobs prisoner to his political games. Instead of searching for photo ops and scoring cheap political points, it’s time for them to step up and take meaningful action to protect Ohio jobs and help workers here compete with countries around the world,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

###

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, June 30, 2022

Columbus, OH —  Earlier this week, State Representative Jean Schmidt – who once called pregnancy from rape “an opportunity” – went on a Cincinnati radio station and laid out the Republican playbook for ripping away Ohioans’ reproductive rights. Schmidt is seen as a leader in the Republican caucus on the anti-abortion movement – having introduced a trigger ban bill that Mike DeWine has indicated he will sign and that will make Ohio one of the most extreme anti-choice states in the entire country.

Here’s a sampling of the comments Schmidt made:

The Trigger Ban Bill: 

• “When we get back into session, we’ll probably have one or two more hearings on it, and then, it will go before our body and the Senate for a concurrent vote, and I do believe we have the votes in both chambers, and we have the full support of the Governor on this bill.”
• “[The only exception will be for] the life of the mother. It will have to be something like an ectopic pregnancy. If the physician determines that the life of the mother is truly at risk, that physician needs to seek an alternate opinion outside of their practice to concur with it.”
• “At the time that the abortion will be provided… a second attending physician will have to be there, in case the baby is born alive, so that that baby can be taken care of.”

Penalizing Companies for Paying for Women to Get Abortions Out of State 

• “If those companies want to do that, they better make sure that they’re complying with the laws of the state that allow them to do that because in House Bill 598, it says that anybody that promotes an abortion will be under the issues of criminal activity. They might have a problem with sending somebody outside the state with a paycheck in hand because that would be, in some legal eyes, promoting abortions.” 

Open to Debate on Birth Control: 

• “I’m gonna have to listen to both sides of that debate.”

“Jean Schmidt just said it loud and clear: Ohio Republicans are coming for your reproductive rights. Politicians like Mike DeWine are ready to insert themselves into a decision that should be made between a woman and her doctor and are working on legislation that will make Ohio one of the most extreme anti-abortion states in the entire country,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

###