The Republican war on women’s reproductive rights is taking bizarre forms. GOP lawmakers in Ohio have proposed a bill that would require women seeking abortions to choose whether they want the aborted fetal tissue to be cremated or buried. Abortion providers who fail to comply could face a six-month jail sentence. Another proposed bill would also limit healthcare providers’ disposal options for tissue to cremation or burial. The legislation plans follow allegations by the state’s Attorney General Mike deWine that Planned Parenthood dumped fetal tissue in a landfill. DeWine made the claim after he had to admit his investigation into the healthcare provider had failed to turn up any evidence that Planned Parenthood was making profits off the sale of baby parts.(In the escalating conflict, several Planned Parenthood clinics filed suit against Attorney-General deWine.) The head of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, Kellie Copleand, stressed that the new requirement was “medically unnecessary” and just constituted another barrier for women seeking abortions. Of course, those who back the bill have a different perspective: Representative Robert McColley (R) said that with the bill, “we stand for the voiceless.” Indiana and Arkansas have already passed such legislation, and it is being considered in Wisconsin.
For Ohio, it is not the first time Republicans have pushed for aggressive anti-choice legislation. After the heavily doctored sting videos smearing Planned Parenthood were released this summer, many red states chose to exclude the healthcare provider, which serves mainly low-income women, from receiving federal family planning funds under Title X. Too bad Ohio lawmakers had already done that back in 2013. How else could they target Planned Parenthood? They went for the 1.3 million dollars the organization received for HIV and other STI tests. Two separate bills (one from the state senate, one from the state house) which would deprive Planned Parenthood of funding for programs against domestic violence, sexual diseases, and infant mortality are waiting for approval as the Ohio legislature goes into winter break. Another proposal that would ban abortions after a fetus has been diagnosed with Down syndrome is also still on the lawmakers’ agenda.
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