ACLU sues Ohio as the state becomes more pro-life
Artist Andrew Scott's stainless steel, 30-foot-long gavel was installed in 2008 outside the the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center, home of the Ohio Supreme Court in Columbus, Ohio, designed by architect Harry Hake. (Highsmith, Carol M., 1946- Carol M. Highsmith Archive via the Library of Congress)
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court against the Ohio Department of Health, alleging the state agency failed to provide information about communications involving an abortion clinic in Toledo.
ACLU of Ohio senior staff attorney Amy Gilbert said her organization and the Reproductive Rights Law Initiative at Case Western Reserve University filed the suit, seeking to reveal information, such as public documents.
“We sent very narrow public requests. They were to five specific individuals regarding specific subject matter,” she told the Statehouse News Bureau. “We provided search terms. And we were only looking at a six-month span of time.”
Gilbert added that the request was made because the Toledo Women’s Center was seeking its operating license.
“There were concerns about why the license process was taking so long and ODH was not providing any additional information and communications,” she told the Statehouse News Bureau. “ODH has gone to great lengths to keep these records hidden, and I think that is the primary concern.”
According to the news source, most of the justices on the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court have gone on record as being anti-abortion.
The recent news about the lawsuit came after it was extensively reported that Planned Parenthood facilities are constantly being closed.
“Closing the Cleveland Health Center was a decision not made lightly, as our patients and team members have supported this community for over a decade,” Erica Wilson-Domer, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said at the time. “We have personally reached out to each affected patient to help them transition their care to another PPGOH location or our Virtual Health Center, ensuring no interruption in their healthcare services.”
Ohio.News previously reported that the Planned Parenthood facilities began closing because Ohio Republicans introduced House Bill 410 to block money from going to the organization.
“There is consistent jurisprudence that says just because something is legal does not mean the state has to pay for it,” State Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, who co-sponsored the bill, said.
Pro-life organization, Ohio Right to Life, also formally asked Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to issue an executive order to eliminate all Medicaid funding for abortion-related activities in the state.
“We need to be honest about the fact that any tax dollars going to a facility that performs abortion services in some way support that activity,” Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Carrie Snyder said. “It’s time to put a full stop on any taxpayer funding for abortion providers and send that money to organizations that are truly focused on the health and well-being of women and children – born and preborn.”
In addition to the facilities being closed, Planned Parenthood was forced to fire a lot of its Ohio workers.
