Politics drives public policy with regard to abortion bill

We do not doubt Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s sincerity when he says he’s unwaveringly pro-life and believes the unborn must be protected. However, by signing into law one of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in the country, he has put politics before good public policy.

DeWine, formerly the state’s chief lawyer as attorney general, threw legal caution to the wind by joining Republican right-wingers in the Ohio General Assembly in pushing through this divisive issue.

Last December, his predecessor, Republican John Kasich, stopped the GOP-controlled Legislature in its tracks when he vetoed a fetal heartbeat bill. He had rejected a similar measure in 2016.

Kasich, who had attracted national attention because of his willingness to publicly criticize fellow Republicans, including President Donald Trump, pushed back against policies designed to divide the state of Ohio and the nation.

The former governor was well aware that the bill was constitutionally problematic and that some health-care providers were opposed to it.

Kasich was also cognizant of the testimony of dozens of “abortion story-tellers,” who appeared before state lawmakers to talk about their personal experiences. They highlighted the potential negative impacts of the bill.

But none of that mattered to DeWine and the social conservatives in the Republican Party who are determined to transform Ohio into a permanently Red State.

What is most egregious about the heartbeat measure is that there’s no exception made for women who become pregnant due to rape or incest.

We have long criticized the mostly male legislators who have the temerity to tell women they cannot be trusted to make decisions about their health and personal well-being.

These lawmakers contend they are committed to the preservation of life, and yet the death penalty is still the law in Ohio.

Tax cuts

In addition, Republicans’ eagerness to cut taxes and build up the state’s rainy-day fund negatively impacts social programs designed to help poor children, in particular. It demonstrates a level of hypocrisy that should not be ignored.

The heartbeat bill, which would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks, is to take effect July 11.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union has said it will challenge the measure in court on the grounds that it’s unconstitutional and violates Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal nationwide.

While architects of the bill showed a willingness to let doctors and other medical experts determine if the life of the mother would be jeopardized by giving birth, they chose to ignore the devastating consequences of prohibiting a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest from having an abortion.

As a result, the Republican lawmakers who pushed through the heartbeat bill have equated a pregnancy stemming from a sexual assault with a pregnancy from a loving relationship.

Becoming pregnant as a result of rape or incest is a double crisis for women who carry the physical and psychological scars of the assault all their lives.

Our belief that politics is driving Republicans’ enactment of the heartbeat legislation is based on the fact that the courts have struck down similar measures in other states. Appeals are pending in Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas and North Dakota.

In reporting on the story, the Columbus Dispatch offered this insight:

“DeWine has routinely acknowledged that the law will be challenged in court, and the law is merely a ‘vehicle’ for the Supreme Court to ‘revisit some of its prior rulings.’ After the House passed the measure 56-39 [last] Wednesday, the governor’s office received 288 phone calls in opposition to the bill and seven in support, a spokesman said.”

In an editorial last December after then Gov. Kasich reined in the General Assembly, we made note of the fact that he would be leaving office at year’s end.

“ ... and his successor, Republican Mike DeWine, is seen as a champion of social conservatives who intend to flex their muscles in 2019. We would hope that DeWine, who has been around Ohio politics for a long time, fights the urge to take Ohio so far to the right that the current political divide grows even wider.”

It’s clear that our hope for a less right-wing extremists agenda in Columbus was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Let there be no doubt, the heartbeat bill will loom large in the 2020 election.