***Press Release*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 15, 2013

Contact: Matthew Adair (614) 466-4583

Turner Disappointed by GOP Priority to Restrict Reproductive Rights

Bill reflects Republicans limited legislative concerns
COLUMBUSState Senator Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) was disillusioned by the introduction of an extreme piece of legislation revealed at a Statehouse press conference today. Sponsored by forty GOP lawmakers in the House, the bill would ban abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat. Similar bills have been met with court challenges in other states, and the measure is widely regarded to be in direct conflict with the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. After passing a state budget which included egregious provisions that restrict womens access to health care, including birth control, it is inexcusable that Republicans continue to prioritize the expansion of government regulation into intimately personal reproductive health choices over the creation of jobs in our slowly rebounding economy, Senator Turner said. In addition to the re-introduction of the so-called Heartbeat Bill, GOP legislators are pushing HB 200, a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound prior to the procedure and force physicians to tell patients that having an abortion increases a womans risk of breast cancer, a finding that the American Cancer Society denies. Despite this concentration on controlling womens reproductive rights, 56% of Ohio's 2012 voters told exit pollsters that abortion should be legal all or most of the time. I am hopeful that lawmakers can work together to compromise on behalf of all Ohioans and focus on common-sense solutions to the problems that our hard-working constituents care about, such as expanding Medicaid to provide basic preventive health coverage for over 275,000 people. Our citizens need solutions to unemployment, poverty, and under-education, not more rhetoric that attempts to control the collective conscience of Ohios women, Turner remarked. ###