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Ramaswamy in “fundamental agreement” with Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, who backs ‘restricting abortion in all cases, but also opposes all forms of contraception’

Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from NBC News revealed Vivek Ramaswamy is closely allying with Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, a group that opposes all forms of contraception and requires candidates to be in “fundamental agreement” with their policy platform.

READ: Vivek Ramaswamy allies with anti-contraception group in Ohio governor’s race

• As Ohio’s Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy has aligned himself with the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, a group that not only favors restricting abortion in all cases, but also opposes all forms of contraception.

• The GOP gubernatorial nominee accepted the group’s endorsement earlier this year, which RTLACO says is conditioned on a candidate being “in fundamental agreement” with the group’s policy document.

• The policy document says RTLACO “opposes abortion at any point of gestation,” “opposes abortion for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest” and “cannot support any form of contraception.”

• Linda Theis, RTLACO’s legislative team chair, told NBC News that the group’s leaders “met with Vivek early in the spring last year, a couple of different times.”

• “He assured us that he was totally with us. We met with him a second time, and he made sure that he said to us — he verbalized that he was all about protecting life without compromise, which is our main standard, so that was our big thing,” she added.

• Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about whether he agrees with RTLACO’s position on contraception, but his campaign website does tout RTLACO’s endorsement, among others.

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OCJ: Ramaswamy’s campaign shows “troubling” lack of transparency as questions go unanswered for eight weeks

Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal reveals how billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign has racked up over half a million dollars in credit card bills, but refuses to say what the expenses were for. Ohio campaign finance law requires campaigns to disclose each individual transaction, but Ramaswamy’s campaign is only disclosing its single credit card bill even after weeks of questions. 

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign owes Ohioans answers about the concerning pattern of spending on his finance reports, from his unreported private jet to his refusal to explain his credit card use,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “His campaign had multiple chances to come clean about his spending, but failed at every turn. What kind of scam is Ramaswamy hiding this time?”

READ: Ohio GOP candidate for governor has put $500,000 on the campaign credit card

• Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for governor has racked up more than half a million dollars in credit card bills without disclosing what the campaign is purchasing. 

• The campaign’s credit card spending has jumped dramatically in recent months. Just since April, Ramaswamy’s campaign has put $280,892 on an American Express card.

• Ohio campaign finance reports require campaigns to disclose each individual transaction — not just how much they spent but who they paid and what they purchased with the money. Ramaswamy’s campaign is only reporting its monthly credit card bill.  

• Even if every penny spent was a legitimate campaign expenditure — which it may well have been — reporting transactions under a single credit card reimbursement obscures how the campaign is spending money. It also leaves room for doubt about whether those transactions are legitimate.

• Although many campaigns use credit cards, Ramaswamy is an outlier in terms of dollar amount and reporting. 

• Ramaswamy has experience reporting itemized credit card transactions. During his 2024 presidential run, Ramaswamy’s campaign finance reports included each individual expenditure separately. In October 2023, for instance, he spent $57,411 on food, lodging and event rentals throughout New Hampshire. He even paid $1,250 to get the Piscataqua Rangers Junior Fife and Drum Corps for a campaign event.

• But in Ohio, Ramaswamy’s campaign has reported only a monthly lump sum reimbursement — effectively building a wall around those transactions. Getting any information about the campaign’s credit card use requires filing public records requests. That takes time, but the campaign calendar isn’t waiting.

• The Ohio Capital Journal’s request for documents related to the Ramaswamy campaign’s pre-primary report has gone unanswered for eight weeks: enough time for the campaign to hit another campaign finance reporting deadline, with yet more $90,000-plus monthly credit card reimbursements.

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Columbus, Ohio- Four years after the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back one of American women’s most fundamental rights, Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing an extreme anti-abortion agenda that overrules the will of Ohio voters. Ramaswamy said Dobbs was decided correctly; he was “unapologetically pro-life” without any qualification, and described a law banning abortion before most women even know they’re pregnant as “progress.” 

Ohioans overwhelmingly enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in Ohio’s state constitution in 2023. Instead of taking his cues from Ohio families, Vivek Ramaswamy selected a running mate who co-sponsored a heartbeat ban with no exceptions for rape or incest and is responsible for enacting the same extreme abortion restrictions that voters rejected. 

“Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected Vivek Ramaswamy’s extreme, anti-abortion agenda, but that hasn’t stopped him from pushing these dangerous policies,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Once again, Ramaswamy thinks he knows better than Ohioans and would do what he wants while attacking our rights.”

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