DeWine taking direction from anti-abortion extremists
Press Release | May 4, 2018
Columbus — New reporting from AP reporter Julie Carr Smyth has uncovered emails between Paula Westwood, executive director of Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati, and the community liaison at the Ohio Attorney General’s office. These communications steered Mike DeWine’s investigation of Planned Parenthood. While the investigation did not uncover any wrong-doing, it did represent a waste of taxpayer dollars and encouraged state legislators to block Planned Parenthood from state funds for life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings and HIV tests in communities of color.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “Mike DeWine has time and again abused his authority in his crusade to obstruct access to abortion care and he doesn’t care who gets hurt along the way — even patients who rely on Planned Parenthood for life-saving preventive care. It is appalling that his office has been collaborating with Cincinnati and Ohio Right to Life. These anti-abortion organizations promote fake women’s health centers which lie to people seeking medically-accurate information about abortion.
“DeWine conducted a politically motivated investigation into Planned Parenthood, but he found nothing wrong because they’ve done nothing wrong. The same cannot be said of DeWine. His wild accusations about Planned Parenthood, and his wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars on his personal agenda is wrong. His participation in lawsuits in Ohio and other states to block abortion is wrong. He is the wrong choice to lead the state of Ohio.”
Last month, DeWine announced an appeal of the unanimous decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked John Kasich’s unconstitutional 2016 bill to defund Planned Parenthood. The bill aimed to block Planned Parenthood from receiving these state funds:
the Violence Against Women Act;
the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act;
the Infertility Prevention Project;
the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative;
Infant Mortality Reduction or Infant Vitality Initiatives;
and the Personal Responsibility Education Program.
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