ICYMI: “A page out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Ohio Republicans propose bill to track all pregnancies”
March 24, 2026
COLUMBUS – Republicans’ efforts to further restrict abortion access and monitor women’s health is garnering national attention, being called “a page out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’” While Ohio voters passed Issue 1 overwhelmingly, emphasizing their support for access to women’s health care, Ohio Republicans’ push to create a “statewide pregnancy registry” – including for highly personal medical complications like miscarriages – is only part of their comprehensive effort to restrict access to women’s health care. Recently, Ohio Republicans on the House Health Committee approved House Bill 347, which would effectively add a 24-hour waiting period for women to be able to access abortion care. It also would mean that physicians could be punished for providing lifesaving care.
In case you missed it, check out MS Now’s coverage of Ohio Republicans’ work to restrict access to reproductive care and track women’s pregnancies:
MS Now: A page out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Ohio Republicans propose bill to track all pregnancies
Author Margaret Atwood insisted her novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was rooted in real history. Now, a new Ohio bill proposed by Republicans to track all pregnancies in the state is drawing disturbing parallels to her work of fiction. Georgetown law professor Michele Goodwin warns if the legislation passes, there is a “very real potential and probability of criminal punishments and civil fines and various other horrors.”
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