A bill that would essentially “defund” Ohio’s Planned Parenthood passed the Senate Wednesday with a 22-8 vote and two amendments. The earliest it can be on Gov. John Kasich’s desk is Feb. 9, after it goes back to the House for a concurrence.
“All the Rs voted yes; all the Ds voted no,” said Senator Kenny Yuko (D-Richmond Heights), Ranking Minority Member for the Government Oversight and Reform Committee. “Surprise, surprise.”
The bill gained momentum last year after videos were aired alleging that Planned Parenthood harvested and profited from the sale of fetal tissue. If signed, $1.3 million dollars would be reallocated from Planned Parenthood to medical facilities that do not provide or promote abortions, and do not contract with other facilities that do.
Ohio Right to Life testified in favor of the bill, and women of the community gathered and testified in opposition on Tuesday evening, sharing personal stories and struggles, and what they experienced at Planned Parenthood.
“Young ladies pouring their hearts out,” Yuko said. “People testifying that it affects people of color and minorities, and lower income people, and people who’ve been violated. You know, people you want to reach out and help.”
Funding from sources like the Violence Against Women Act, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act, the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, and Infant Mortality Reduction services would be cut.
An earmark was one of the amendments on the bill, allocating $250,000 in existing state funds for infant mortality reduction efforts.
“What the earmark doesn’t do is make sure that those infant mortality reduction funds get in the hands of providers that can assist, specifically, women in communities of color,” said Gabriel Mann, Communications Manager for NARAL Pro-choice Ohio. “Ohio has the worst rate for infant mortality in the entire country for African-American women.”
Ohio’s infant mortality rate is 23 percent higher than the national rate. Six out of 1,000 white infants died in 2013, while almost 14 black infants died per 1,000 that year.
Planned Parenthood offers a program, “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies.” It targets pregnant, high-risk African-American women in Mahoning County, where African-American women are twice as likely to have a child considered very low birth weight than the rest of the population. The service provides in-home visits during pregnancy and up until the child is two years old. Healthy Moms, Healthy babies is one of 13 infant mortality initiatives in Ohio. If the bill becomes law this and similar programs would lose funding.
“This is not what Ohioans want,” Stephanie Kight, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said in a press release. “Sixty-five percent of Ohioans are opposed to cutting access to care at Planned Parenthood — and over the last few months, hundreds have protested at the statehouse and thousands more have spoken out online. Gov. Kasich must listen to his constituents and veto this bill.”