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Before He Became the Moderate Candidate, John Kasich Waged War on Ohio's Abortion Clinics
It took one round of questions in CNN's Wednesday night presidential debate for the Republican candidates to pounce on Planned Parenthood. But as Sen. Ted Cruz called for shutting down the government in order to strip Planned Parenthood's funding and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina linked the group to Iran, one candidate strived for moderation: John Kasich.
The two-term Ohio governor urged Cruz not to stage a shutdown and indicated that he was hesitant to engage in a pitched battle with the federal government to strip Planned Parenthood in his state of Medicaid dollars.
His remarks were representative of why the tone of his campaign has triggered serious doubts about him among abortion foes. Kasich has dragged his feet on supporting controversial abortion bills and hesitated to commit to defunding Planned Parenthood. On Wednesday, incensed abortion opponents began belittling Kasich's pro-life bona fides. "The governor consistently refers to the pro-life laws he has signed as evidence of his pro-life credentials," Molly Smith, president of Cleveland Right to Life, said on the eve of the second Republican debate. "Most of the credit for these laws go to the pro-life legislators who fought for them."
But an in-depth look at Kasich's two terms as governor brings a very different picture into focus. In his six years in office, Kasich has signed every piece of anti-abortion legislation to cross his desk. And far from just rubber-stamping new abortion rules, Kasich has been more aggressive than any other governor in the Republican race in wielding the power of his office to run abortion providers out of business.
....
Reproductive rights activists in the state agree. "There's creating a law, and there's how you implement it," says Kellie Copeland, the director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, an advocacy group. "And from day one, Kasich's administration was looking aggressively at how they could use their authority to enforce regulations in a way that would shut abortion clinics down."
This approach has been stunningly successful. In the last five years, Ohio has closed more abortion clinics than any other state but Texas. Since Kasich took office in 2011, eight licensed abortion clinics have closed, stopped performing abortions, or moved their services out of state, according to a count kept by the advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. In 2011, Ohio had 16 clinics. Currently, Ohio has nine. In two of its largest cities—Cincinnati and Dayton—the area's sole clinics are constantly threatened with closure.
....
MotherJones
The two-term Ohio governor urged Cruz not to stage a shutdown and indicated that he was hesitant to engage in a pitched battle with the federal government to strip Planned Parenthood in his state of Medicaid dollars.
His remarks were representative of why the tone of his campaign has triggered serious doubts about him among abortion foes. Kasich has dragged his feet on supporting controversial abortion bills and hesitated to commit to defunding Planned Parenthood. On Wednesday, incensed abortion opponents began belittling Kasich's pro-life bona fides. "The governor consistently refers to the pro-life laws he has signed as evidence of his pro-life credentials," Molly Smith, president of Cleveland Right to Life, said on the eve of the second Republican debate. "Most of the credit for these laws go to the pro-life legislators who fought for them."
But an in-depth look at Kasich's two terms as governor brings a very different picture into focus. In his six years in office, Kasich has signed every piece of anti-abortion legislation to cross his desk. And far from just rubber-stamping new abortion rules, Kasich has been more aggressive than any other governor in the Republican race in wielding the power of his office to run abortion providers out of business.
....
Reproductive rights activists in the state agree. "There's creating a law, and there's how you implement it," says Kellie Copeland, the director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, an advocacy group. "And from day one, Kasich's administration was looking aggressively at how they could use their authority to enforce regulations in a way that would shut abortion clinics down."
This approach has been stunningly successful. In the last five years, Ohio has closed more abortion clinics than any other state but Texas. Since Kasich took office in 2011, eight licensed abortion clinics have closed, stopped performing abortions, or moved their services out of state, according to a count kept by the advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. In 2011, Ohio had 16 clinics. Currently, Ohio has nine. In two of its largest cities—Cincinnati and Dayton—the area's sole clinics are constantly threatened with closure.
....
MotherJones
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