PLANNED PARENTHOOD ADVOCATES OF OHIO TARGETS JOHN KASICH WITH AD BUY

For Immediate Release: Feb. 10, 2016

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Day After A Strong New Hampshire Finish, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio Target Governor Kasich On Defunding Measure

Washington, DC –– A day after John Kasich’s surprise second place finish in the Republican New Hampshire primary, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio went up with an ad buy targeting Kasich’s plan to sign a bill that would block thousands of Ohioans from accessing basic care at Planned Parenthood. The ads direct supporters to a page where they can send a message to Kasich.

The bill, HB 294, would slash health care for women across the state --- even targeting a “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies” program that aims to prevent infant mortality, despite Ohio having one of the highest infant mortality rates for African Americans in the nation. It would also eliminate HIV testing programs and a domestic violence initiative.

The five-figure ad buy includes this VIDEO that will be displayed on Facebook and all major online news sites in Columbus and across the state of Ohio.

Quote from Dawn Laguens, Vice President of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“The secret is out: John Kasich is terrible for women’s health. He knows that his attacks on women’s health are unpopular --- that’s why he never talks about them on the campaign trail. But as the Governor of Ohio, John Kasich has done everything within his power to ban access to safe, legal abortion and basic care at Planned Parenthood health centers. Now he has his sights set on infant mortality prevention programs, HIV testing, and essential sex education. Let his dangerous actions in Ohio be a warning to the American people --- we can’t afford this wrongheaded agenda in the White House.”

While Governor of Ohio, John Kasich has quietly enacted 17 measures to restrict access to reproductive health care. Under Kasich’s watch, Ohio has shuttered providers across the state, and even blocked funding for rape crisis centers just for referring survivors of sexual assault to abortion providers. Kasich is now ready to sign a bill that eliminates infant mortality, domestic violence, and HIV prevention programs --- all in the name of his vindictive campaign to eliminate essential care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

 

Watch here

See landing page here 

65 percent of Ohioans oppose blocking access to care at Planned Parenthood. Additionally, 14 national pollsand polling inmajor swing states have shown strong support for Planned Parenthood. These attacks are out of touch with the American people.

Women’s health is a touchstone issue in 2016. It was a deciding issue in the 2012 presidential election. Mitt Romney took a hard stance on Planned Parenthood and reproductive health care in 2012, and he then lost the election by thebiggest gender gap in recent history. InVirginia in 2013, women’s health was a deciding factor when Terry McAuliffe won women overall–and won 59% of the votes of people who said abortion was the most important issue to them – 20% of the electorate.

SCRIPT: (VIDEO)

NARRATOR:

John Kasich says he supports women and families

So why does Kasich want to defund Planned Parenthood,

Cut programs that prevent infant mortality,

and end important domestic violence prevention initiatives?

why would Kasich cut funding for livesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings

and 50,000 tests that stop the spread of HIV and other diseases

all while 65 percent of Ohioans support funding for Planned Parenthood?

Tell Governor Kasich his actions speak louder than words

It's time to stand up for women's health.

 

Background: John Kasich has decimated women’s health care in Ohio

FACT: Governor Kasich cut funding for Planned Parenthood in Ohio in 2013, and has pledged to sign another piece of legislation that would cut even more funding. Planned Parenthood health centers served over 80,000 Ohio patients in 2013, providing contraceptive services to over 66,000 patients and STI tests to over 105,000 patients.

• Governor Kasich said Republicans should “fight like crazy” to end funding for Planned Parenthood. [Newsmax, 9/28/15]

• Ohio clinics aren’t prepared for the patients who would lose care if Planned Parenthood lost funding: The Telegraph-Forum writes, “Claire Boettler, president of the Ohio Public Health Association, is concerned that city and county health departments, free clinics and pregnancy resource centers won't have the capacity to care for thousands of additional women. Her group's more-than 600 members include physicians, nurses and health educators in local health departments, universities and nonprofits. ‘For example, women currently enrolled in the BCCP (Breast and Cervical Cancer Project) program may have a longer waiting period for an appointment that could result in later stage diagnosis of breast or cervical cancer, and women served through the MAI (Minority AIDS Initiative) program may temporarily lose access to critical treatment medications necessary to keep their disease in check," Boettler wrote to lawmakers considering the cuts.’” [Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum, 10/30/15]

• Cuts would affect funding for infant mortality prevention programs: “Opponents of the Ohio bill are particularly concerned about the funds for Planned Parenthood’s infant mortality prevention programs; the state has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. ‘I know it seems like a smaller dollar amount, but we’re talking about really the most vulnerable population.’” [New Republic, 10/21/15]

FACT: Governor Kasich is no moderate, he is an extreme abortion opponent.

• Politico: On abortion, Kasich is no moderate: “Laws signed by Kasich prohibit almost all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, mandate ultrasounds before a woman can get an abortion and require abortion clinics to establish formal written agreements with local hospitals about emergency care — a provision that has been repeatedly modified to be even more restrictive and make it harder for clinics to comply.”

• Mother Jones:“How Ohio Gov. John Kasich Is Making Life Hell for Women Seeking Abortions”

• The Columbus Dispatch: “In 2011, Kasich signed into law a bill that banned late-term abortions. The law prohibits abortions after 20 weeks unless a doctor determines the fetus could not live outside the womb. He also has signed a measure requiring an ultrasound of anyone seeking an abortion. The Ohio Department of Health reports that the vast majority of the 23,216 abortions performed in Ohio in 2013 took place less than nine weeks into pregnancy. The state has said 173 abortions after 21 weeks were recorded in 2013….Gonidakis said he does not doubt that Kasich is with his group on the abortion issue, and he said that under Kasich as governor, the state has seen ‘historic lows in the number of abortions. Whether John Kasich makes it to the finish line in this race,” he said, ‘his body of work in Ohio on the pro-life movement speaks for itself.’”

FACT: Women’s access to health care shrunk under Gov. Kasich

• Mother Jones:“Since Kasich entered office in 2011, he has enacted 16 anti-abortion measures. Some directly restrict abortion access, such as the 20-week late-term ban that he signed six months after entering office. Others limit the work of abortion providers. For example, in 2013 he signed the state's budget bill, which included one provision that prohibits state-funded rape crisis counselors from referring women to abortion services and another that stripped Planned Parenthood of an estimated $1.4 million in federal family-planning dollars. The measures have had drastic consequences for access to abortion and medical care for Ohio women:

Under Gov. Kasich’s administration, nearly half of Ohio’s abortion clinics closed.

• Mother Jones:During Kasich's time in office, the number of abortion providers in the state has dropped from 16 to eight.”

• Toledo Blade:“But the law had the effect of shutting down nearly half of Ohio’s abortion clinics, which is exactly what lawmakers intended it to do. Many abortion providers can’t get transfer agreements because hospitals face intense pressure from anti-abortion activists to deny them.”

• Think Progress:“In terms of the areas where high number of clinics have recently been shuttered, Ohio ranks second only to Texas. And Ohio isn’t stopping there. Aside from the proposed budget, lawmakers have also been advancing a 20-week abortion ban; the state senate approved that legislation just last week. For years, reproductive rights groups have been warning that Ohio is becoming one of the worst states for abortion access. At the end of last week, the Plain Dealer’s editorial board also sounded the alarm: “These draconian rules aimed at closing Ohio’s abortion clinics appear to be a thinly veiled effort to get before the U.S. Supreme Court a challenge to Roe v.Wade, the case that legalized abortion,” the newspaper wrote in reference to the proposed budget bill”.

FACT: Ohio women are driving to Michigan to access abortion.

• Toledo Blade:“Michigan abortion clinics see an influx of Ohioans...Ms. Chilean said she began to notice women coming from Ohio to the Michigan clinics about two years ago when Ohio law changed and banned abortions after 22 weeks.”

• CBS News:“Both sides agree that one factor in Michigan's upsurge in abortions is an influx of women coming from Ohio, where several abortion clinics recently closed. According to Michigan's health department, abortions for nonresidents jumped from 708 in 2013 to 1,318 in 2014.”

FACT: Kasich wants to ban access to safe, legal abortion.

• When Kasich was asked about a provision in the 2013 budget bill he signed that prohibits rape crisis counselors from telling victims that abortion is an option he wouldn’t answer why he signed the provision into law. He said, “We certainly want to care. I actually believe in the exception of rape, incest, and life of the mother. Okay? But look, at the end of the day, I’m going to do what I think is a pro-life — you know, looking, being in a position of being pro-life. There’s nothing more I can say about it. I’ve said everything there is to say about it.” [Wonkette, 10/29/14]

• When John Kasich was asked if he were to become president if we would close down half the country’s abortion clinics like he did in Ohio, to which he responded “we’ll do our best.” [YouTube, 8/19/15]

• After Governor Kasich signed four pieces of anti-abortion legislation into law in 2011, the president of Ohio Right to Life said: “Never in the history of the pro-life movement have we had so many legislative measures enacted in one year.” [Springfield News-Sun, 1/4/12]

• Governor Kasich has said: “I’ve been pro-life all my career, so there’s — that’s just the way it is.” [USA Today, 6/26/13]