Posted on 07/02/2014 7:32:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Eighteen abortion clinics existed in Ohio when John Kasich took office as governor in 2011, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as working to advance reproductive health. Eleven clinics operate today, and activists on both sides of the abortion debate expect that number to keep dropping. Soon, it could be in single digits.
Toledos last abortion clinic, a facility operated by the Capital Care Network, may be the next to close, after its failure to obtain a legally required transfer agreement with a local hospital. A transfer agreement provides assurance that patients will be transported to the hospital in case of an emergency. The clinic lost its old transfer agreement with the University of Toledo Hospital because of an Ohio law enacted last year that bans taxpayer-funded hospitals from making such agreements with abortion clinics. A local private hospital that the clinic approached did not wish to enter into such an agreement. The clinic then attempted to enter into an agreement across state lines with the University of Michigan but was denied permission by an Ohio Department of Health hearing examiner.
On Monday, the Department of Health moved to close a clinic in Sharonville on the grounds that it too is operating without a transfer agreement. Russ Kennedy, the Department of Healths communications director, says he and others in state government will not comment about such actions because of ongoing legal proceedings throughout the state.
More than 20 abortion clinics existed in Ohio during the 1980s, says Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the National Right to Life Committee. If the abortion clinics in Sharonville and Toledo do shut down, his organization will be that much closer to achieving its ultimate goal. Were closing more abortion clinics in Ohio now not because we passed any additional laws, he says. Its because were enforcing the laws that are currently on the books to ensure that womens health is a priority.
Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, says she believes the Kasich administration is targeting two additional clinics for closure. As clinics close, we could be looking at the entire western half of the state not having any local abortion provider, Copeland says. It scares me to think what it could be.
Whats actually frightening, says Gonidakis, is the remaining abortion culture in Ohio. He says the clinics are targeting African-American women, while liberals stand by and say nothing. Wed like to pass a law that says, Ban abortion at conception, but that will never take effect, Gonidakis says. And you could pass that law six days a week and twice on Sunday, and itll get thrown out of the courts every day.
Instead, he has found success with a strategic approach that considers the response of multiple branches of government. In the last three years, he reports, eleven pro-life bills have been passed without a single challenge in the courts. His group will not push any other pro-life legislation in 2014, with the election just around the corner. Without providing names, he says the pro-life movement hopes to add two representatives with pro-life bona fides to the Ohio legislature this November. He says the addition of these members would bring the pro-life head count to 66 out of 99 representatives. From there, he plans to begin working with legislators, including Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder, representatives of the governor, and the Ohio Department of Health to launch a robust agenda for 2015. Gonidakis expects that agenda will include new regulations for abortion clinics, ways to reduce the number of abortions in the African-American community, and new ideas about how to hold abortion clinics accountable.
The left-wing blog ThinkProgress has written that Ohios War on Women Isnt Slowing Down Anytime Soon, but Gonidakis says he has his own hopes for combatting the Lefts War on Women. Were the only nonprofit thats trying to work itself out of a job, he says. We want to close down. We dont want to have a reason to exist. But until such time we have an unfortunate court decision in Roe v. Wade that requires us to take an incremental approach.
Ryan Lovelace is a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow at National Review.
Great news! Now, let’s work on the other 56 states ;- )
Morning after pill.
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The last abortion clinic in my city, Corpus Christi, Texas was forced to close Monday, leaving women in the Coastal Bend area without ready access to abortions.
This is wonderful news to we who have stood outside the clinic protested and prayed for years for this clinic to stop murdering the innocent.
Corpus Christi had also been the closest location for some women in the Rio Grande Valley since clinics in McAllen and Harlingen closed earlier this year.
Now, women living in Corpus Christi and surrounding areas who seek abortion services will have to travel to San Antonio, at least a two-hour drive each way.
More than a third of the abortion clinics in the state have closed since the Legislature passed more restrictive laws last year.
Restriction in the law: the requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
Another part of the law, which takes effect in September, requires clinics to meet surgical-center standards, meaning all abortions, including nonsurgical procedures, must take place in hospital-style operating rooms. It is that requirement that abortion providers say will probably reduce the number of clinics in the state to six..
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This is because science is proving these swine are wrong. Science enables babies to survive at younger and younger ages. So when those who want abortion but draw the line at partial birth abortion they find the “line” moving back further and further toward conception.
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