Jean Schmidt Lays Out the Republican Playbook on Abortion
June 30, 2022
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.
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