Planned Parenthood Federation of America Launches TV Ad Attacking Ohio Budget that Restricts Women’s Access to Health Care

For Immediate Release: Jan. 30, 2014

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“When I heard that Governor John Kasich had signed a budget that could defund Planned Parenthood…

I felt very sad for Ohio women.” – Audrey Imes

You can watch the 30-Second TV Ad Here: youtu.be/2Go_0YBbJzM

WASHINGTON — Today, in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, Planned Parenthood Federation of America launched a 30-second TV ad alerting the public to budget provisions that will restrict women’s access to health care in Ohio. The provisions were passed by the legislature and signed into law last week by Governor John Kasich over protests from thousands of Ohioans statewide. The ad focuses on a measure in the Ohio budget designed to block funds for preventive care at Planned Parenthood health centers as well as a provision that could be interpreted as a “gag rule” for rape crisis centers, preventing them from providing information to rape survivors about access to safe and legal abortion. 

The ad features Audrey Imes, a Planned Parenthood patient telling her personal story of seeking care at a Planned Parenthood health center after she was raped, saying “being raped was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. But Planned Parenthood provided the care and the support that I really needed.  So when I heard that Governor John Kasich had signed a budget that could defund Planned Parenthood… I felt very sad for Ohio women.”

You can watch the 30-Second TV ad here: youtu.be/2Go_0YBbJzM 

The ad will begin airing on Wednesday for one week on broadcast and cable television in Columbus, OH.  Online display ads will also run during that time and will target Ohio women. The buy comes as politicians across the country – from Ohio to Texas to North Carolina – continue to push anti-women’s health policies over protests from their constituents who want women and their doctors, not politicians, to set health care rules and regulations. 

A poll released last month showed that more than half of Ohioans oppose the anti-women’s health provisions in the budget.

“This ad amplifies the message that we’re hearing from Planned Parenthood patients and supporters in Ohio and beyond: we are all better off when women and their doctors — not politicians — are the ones making medical decisions,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 

“The Ohio state budget, which was signed into law by Governor John Kasich over protests from thousands of Ohioans statewide, reallocates funds away from nonprofit women’s health care providers like Planned Parenthood and even restricts the help that rape counselors can give survivors. These provisions are deeply unpopular and are dangerous for Ohio women and their health. 

“A majority of Americans recognize the fundamental role that Planned Parenthood’s preventive health care services play in keeping women healthy. Cervical cancer screenings and breast exams help catch diseases early — when they are most treatable, and birth control helps women plan their families and manage health care issues, and reduces the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. 

“We are going to fight these attacks on women’s health every step of the way. Women across the country are standing up to say that enough is enough, and we’re making it impossible for politicians like Governor Kasich to ignore us, no matter how hard they try.”

THE AD SCRIPT IS AS FOLLOWS: 

Audrey Imes: Being raped was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. But Planned Parenthood provided the care and the support that I really needed.  

So when I heard that Governor John Kasich had signed a budget that could defund Planned Parenthood… I felt very sad for Ohio women. 

This budget even restricts the help that rape counselors can give survivors like me. 

Politicians should not interfere in private health care decisions between a woman and her doctor.

Narrator: Learn what you can do at OhioPP.org.

Learn what you can do to protect women’s health care. OhioPP.org.

Paid for by Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

BACKGROUND:

Last week, over protests from thousands of Ohioans statewide, Governor John Kasich signed a budget into law without exercising his line-item veto to strike a Targeted Restriction of Abortion Providers (TRAP) provision prohibiting transfer agreements with public hospitals, a mandatory ultrasound provision, as well as a measure designed to block funds for preventive health care at Planned Parenthood health centers in Ohio. The budget also restricts the help that rape counselors can give survivors. The mandatory ultrasound provision was added to the bill after it had passed in committee.

The Ohio legislature has passed and Governor Kasich has signed seven abortion restrictions since 2011, and he has appointed the director of Ohio Right to Life to the state’s Medical Board.

GOP state Rep. Ross McGregor (one of the seven GOP Representatives who voted against the budget) denounced the budget for creating new abortion restrictions saying, “This is an area where government doesn’t need to be inserting itself.”

•Women’s health supporters in Ohio turned out in droves to voice their opposition to the legislature’s attacks on Ohio women, with more than a hundred people demonstrating at the capitol.  These supporters delivered 17,000 petition signatures from Ohioans calling on Governor Kasich to veto.

•Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio organized supporters, who placed more than 1,450 calls to Governor Kasich, with countless more organizing on social media placing calls to Kasich asking him to #veto4women.   

•The attacks on women’s health in Ohio have been so unpopular that more than 40 Planned Parenthood patients, supporters and volunteers testified before the House and Senate to demand better from their state legislators.