ICYMI: DeWine Promises ‘To Go As Far As We Can’ to Prohibit Reproductive Rights in Ohio
June 21, 2022
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch late last week reported on comments from Mike DeWine in which he promised an anti-choice group that he would “go as far as we can” to attack reproductive rights in Ohio. DeWine’s comments only confirm what we already know: DeWine is one of the most extreme anti-choice politicians in the whole country and he’s ready to go on the attack. From a trigger-ban bill that wouldn’t include exceptions for rape or incest to a six-week abortion bill that has already been shot down by the federal courts, DeWine has already to promised to sign some of the most radical legislation in the country into law.
His latest comments show he’s ready to take those attacks even further.
“Mike DeWine just made one thing abundantly clear: abortion and reproductive rights are on the line this November. DeWine, one the most radical anti-choice politicians in the country, is ready to ‘go as far as he can,’ to restrict a woman’s right to make medical decisions for herself. From now until November, Ohio Democrats are going to make sure voters know what’s at stake ahead of one of the most consequential elections in Ohio history,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
Read more from the Columbus Dispatch here and below:
- In a call with Ohio Right to Life members on Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine said he wants to “go as far as we can” to prohibit abortion based on what the U.S. Supreme Court decides in the coming days.
- A leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion indicated the justices plan to overturn legal decisions that protected the procedure up to about 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy. The draft opinion comes in a case about the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks gestation.
- DeWine, a lifelong opponent of abortion, said depending on the ruling, he plans to ask the courts to lift a legal stay that has kept the heartbeat abortion ban law from taking effect. DeWine, a Republican, signed it into law in April 2019.
- He also noted that when lawmakers return to Columbus in November, they’ll discuss “how we want to craft that legislation to go as far as we can to protect human life based upon whatever that decision is.”
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