Abortion supporters criticize the Republican Ohio lawmakers’ bill

Republican lawmakers are sponsoring a bill that aims to stop mail-order prescriptions and telehealth appointments for medications that cause “severe adverse effects” in more than 5% of users. 

Abortion supporters in Ohio claim that the Republican’s bill would make it harder for women to access abortion-related drugs because they allege it may end telehealth prescriptions and mail-order pills.

State Reps. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, and Meredith Craig, R-Smithville, the sponsors of House Bill 324, said that they are not specifically targeting abortion. According to News 5 Cleveland, the bill would prevent mail-order prescriptions and telehealth appointments for medications that cause “severe adverse effects” in more than 5% of users. 

Ohio’s 13 abortion clinics have been able to prescribe the abortion pill during video visits with patients, and even mail it directly to their homes, since 2024.

“People don’t have to say, ‘Well, I have to take off work to go to the clinic. I can get it by mail. I can do this when I want to,’” the Northeast Ohio Women’s Center’s Dr. David Burkons said. “It’s on their schedule rather than ours, which obviously has a lot of appeal to people.”

Burkons said that two-thirds of his patients have a medication abortion, versus a surgical one.

However, Matthews criticized the availability of receiving the medications via mail.

“Mail-order medications have become much more commonplace, and this is a good, common-sense, generally applicable bill,” he said.

The news source reported that pro-life groups supported the bill because Mifepristone, the most common abortion medication that could be delivered via mail, has been proven to cause severe health impacts on 10% of women who have taken it.

“If these medications are sending any patients to the hospital with sepsis or organ failure at a rate of one out of 20 patients, then I think that should be the cause of concern, whatever the medication may be used for,” Mathews said.

That wasn’t the first time abortion supporters criticized Republicans for allegedly restricting access to abortion. 

The Ohio Capitol Journal reported that a Republican-led Senate Bill 309 would require health care providers who prescribe drugs to induce an abortion to also inform patients about their ability to sue their health care providers, before the drugs can be prescribed.

“I think it could be really damaging to the physician-patient relationship,” said Dr. Tracy Griffith, an OB/GYN at University Hospitals and a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “It feels like it’s designed to produce mistrust.”

On the other hand, the pro-life lobby group, Ohio Right to Life, released a statement saying it approves of the bill. 

“Women who are facing a difficult choice should be given all the information they need to make such a critical decision,” Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Carrie Snyder said. “It is our hope that more women will see the dangers of abortion pills and make the decision to choose life, for their baby and themselves.”