CINCINNATI -- While debate continues to swirl around the future of Planned Parenthood in Cincinnati, state leaders are sounding off on a push to fully defund the agency throughout all of Ohio.
On the steps of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio CEO Stephanie Kight decried the push from Senate Republicans by focusing on the services they provide outside of abortion.
She gave the example of a woman named Mary who had recently found out she had breast cancer.
“We got her into treatment right away. Now, less than six weeks later, before she would have seen her private provider, she is in treatment for her breast cancer,” Kight said. “That’s what Planned Parenthood does every day, that’s what the government wants to defund. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Kight stood with Democratic representatives and dozens of supporters holding signs reading “My Body, My Choice” and “I Stand with Planned Parenthood.” They came together Wednesday morning to announced new legislation aimed at fighting back against these new attacks.
Also in attendance at the event was Katherine Franklin, communications director for Ohio Right to Life. She said said that elected representatives should understand what they’re really advocating.
“Planned Parenthood in Ohio is connected to a bigger operation that is turning a blind eye to what their affiliates are doing with fetal baby parts,” Franklin said. “That says something huge about what abortion on demand is, without apology. That’s exactly what they were advocating for here today.”
The baby parts she referred to were part of a video released over the summer, purportedly depicting Planned Parenthood employees discussing selling fetal tissue for research, a practice legal in the U.S. It is not legal for Planned Parenthood to profit from these sales.
These videos were the political impetus for federal Republican representatives to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.
This was also the case in Ohio, where Republican Senate President Keith Faber introduced a bill last week that would divert state funds away from any clinic that performs or promotes abortions. In 2014, that funding was $1.3 million.
"We've gone about trying to defund Planned Parenthood before. What's important to me is that we don't miss the ace," Faber said. "Look, to me it's pretty simple. An organization who has one of their people out there saying, 'I want to maximize the amount of money I can get out of selling baby parts so I can buy a Lamborghini' is not one deserving of public money."
However, this new push isn't stopping Democratic representatives. The bills they introduced today are big asks, especially in the current political climate.
But Rep. Greta Johnson of Akron says that isn't going to stop them.
"Part of our jobs as legislators is to push forward legislation that reflects our state's real priorities and, in this vein, represents access without apology. Some people have said to me 'Why bother? You're in the slim minority. You're never going to get past the first hearing, if you get that far,'" she said. "And it made me pause. I was elected and I swore to do a job. Part of that job is to introduce and move forward legislation that moves Ohio forward. We're going to do that today."
Ben Postlethwait is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter @BCPostlethwait
