Ohio Passes Abortion Ban and Senate Cuts Planned Parenthood Funding!

Even pro-abortion organizations and Planned Parenthood have admitted that the trend is going against them.

Take a look at this tweet from ACLU:

And another from Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen:

Fox News has more details on Ohio's funding cut for Planned Parenthood:

Ohio stripped Planned Parenthood funding from its annual budget and is now set to increase funding for pro-life crisis pregnancy centers.

The state Senate passed a bill last week that includes $5 million for over 200 crisis pregnancy centers that primarily serve low-income women. The proposal increasing the funding by five times comes after a federal appeals court upheld an Ohio law that pulled funding from Planned Parenthood, which received $1.5 million in annual state funds.

“This is the first budget opportunity we’ve had since then to invest additional funds into crisis pregnancy centers,” Senate President Larry Obhof, a Republican, told Tony Perkins on Washington Watch.

The Republican-controlled state is expected to pass this version of the two-year, $69 billion state operating budget.

Critics say pro-life centers offer inaccurate medical advice, but supporters say the funding boost will help provide counseling to women with unplanned pregnancies, free ultrasounds, parenting classes and baby items.

Live Action also had this to say:

Legislators in Ohio have omitted funding for Planned Parenthood in the state’s annual budget and have pledged to substantially increase funding for crisis pregnancy centers. The Senate’s spending bill cuts $1.5 million in funding from Planned Parenthood and allocates $5 million for the state’s more than 200 pregnancy centers. This is five times the amount of funding that these pregnancy centers have received in the past.

The move comes after a federal appeals court upheld a 2016 Ohio law stripping funding from Planned Parenthood. That law was challenged, with a lower court initially ruling in Planned Parenthood’s favor. However, in March of this year, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling, upholding the state’s right to restrict funds to abortion providers.

“Governments generally may do what they wish with public funds, a principle that allows them to subsidize some organizations but not others and to condition receipt of public funds on compliance with certain obligations,” Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote concerning the ruling. “The Ohio law does not violate a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.”

In Ohio, abortions are banned once the baby's heartbeat can be detected.

The "heartbeat bill" became law on April 11, 2019.

NPR has more on this:

The six-week abortion ban known as the "heartbeat bill" is now law in Ohio. That makes Ohio the sixth state in the nation to attempt to outlaw abortions at the point heartbeat activity can be detected.

   

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill Thursday afternoon, just one day after it passed the Republican-led General Assembly. The law is slated to take effect in 90 days, unless blocked by a federal judge. 

   

Now known as the "Human Rights Protection Act," SB 23 outlaws abortions as early as five or six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

   

The bill does include an exception to save the life of the woman, but no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

"The essential function of government is to protect the most vulnerable among us, those who don't have a voice," DeWine said as he signed the bill. "Government's role should be to protect life from the beginning to the end."