Abortion rights supporters are asking state legislators to step back in their efforts to limit access. According to reports obtained by the Associated Press, state licensing and business records show almost half of Ohio's abortion providers have either closed or reduced services over the last four years, and the number of abortion procedures is also falling. Numerous restrictive laws have passed in that time. Supporters of abortion rights are telling Ohio lawmakers to stop passing legislation to restrict abortion. And they're using shoes to convey that message. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.
Hundreds of pairs of shoes were lined up on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse by supporters of abortion rights. Democratic State lawmaker Kathleen Clyde says anti-abortion legislation passed by Ohio lawmakers in recent years are making it harder for Ohio women to get safe accessible abortions. And she says that’s not fair.
“We don’t walk in her shoes. We don’t know her circumstances,” Clyde says. But Mike Gonadakis with Ohio Right to Life wants lawmakers to restrict abortion even further by passing and a bill that would eliminate abortions based on positive fetal tests for Down syndrome.
“What’s unbearable is that 90% of all babies that are diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb are aborted,”Gonadakis says.
Lawmakers heard testimony on the Down syndrome abortion legislation earlier this week.
