Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
While all eyes were on Texas last week and the people's filibuster led by state Sen. Wendy Davis, Tea-Publicans in Ohio demonstrated how to get things done in the dark while no one is paying much attention. Like cockroaches.
Former FAUX News host and Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, signed into law an appropriations bill this week that contains some of the most onerous and restrictive anti-women's reproductive health measures in the country. I fail to see how these substantive legislative measures are germain to an appropriations bill — perhaps this is grounds for a legal challenge — but that is how Tea-Publicans roll in Ohio. Surrounded By Men, Ohio Governor Signs Stringent Abortion Restrictions Into Law:
Flanked by a group of other male officials, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a contentious two-year budget bill
into law on Sunday evening. The governor vetoed 22 amendments to HB 59
before approving it, but he left intact several provisions that will severely limit women’s reproductive access.
The new budget, which takes effect on Monday, includes at least five
new anti-abortion provisions. HB 59 will defund Planned Parenthood
clinics, reallocate family planning funding to right-wing “crisis pregnancy centers,”
strip funding from rape crisis centers that give their clients any
information about abortion services, impose harsh restrictions on
abortion clinics that will force many of them to shut down, and require
doctors to give women seeking abortion information about the presence of
a “fetal heartbeat.”
Taken together, the budget amendments ensure that Ohio now has some of the most stringent abortion laws in the nation.
So how exactly does this help GOP rebranding after its War on Women?
Ohio voters also mobilized to oppose HB 59. Women’s health advocates
rallied on the steps of the state capitol on Thursday afternoon as both
chambers considered the budget bill. After the legislature approved HB
59, a crowd of activists shouted “Shame on you!” and were escorted from the chamber. Opponents delivered over 17,000 petitions to the governor asking him to veto HB 59′s abortion provisions.
According to a recent poll
from the Public Policy Polling group, HB 59 isn’t popular with Ohio
voters as a whole, either. Fifty two percent of respondents said they
didn’t support the budget specifically because it includes attacks on
reproductive rights, like defunding Planned Parenthood and shutting down
abortion clinics.
The GOP War on Women continues unabated. All abortion, all the time.
