Now that our Robed Masters have shredded Roe v. Wade, it’s more important than ever that we elect Democratic governors and attorneys general who will defend the nation’s bodily autonomy. Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine is running for re-election this year, and while he was slightly less sociopathic about COVID-19 than some other Republican governors, he’s still a disaster on reproductive freedom and LGBTQ equality.
PREVIOUSLY: Meanwhile, In Ohio, It’s Mandatory Jazz Funerals For Your Abortion
DeWine signed a BS “heartbeat bill” in 2019 that bans abortion as early as six weeks, based on junk science that conflates electrical signals from a clump of cells with a fully formed heart, which a six-week-old fetus doesn’t have. That bill is no longer openly unconstitutional, much to what we assume is DeWine’s delight.
The Democrat challenging this forced-birth creep is Nan Whaley, former mayor of Dayton and the first woman to win a major party’s nomination for governor in Ohio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVRpwvuNuvENan Whaley for Governoryoutu.be
Whaley is unapologetically pro-choice and pro-gun safety. She’s been a frequent foil to DeWine, who kept signing gun-humping laws even after seven people in Dayton were murdered in a mass shooting. DeWine has talked some bipartisan-friendly crap about how “smart, sincere, dedicated and caring people can have very, very different and equally heartfelt views” about abortion, but he recently told an anti-abortion group he’s eager to take his extremist positions to the repulsive limit.
Democrats are hopeful the Supreme Court’s tyranny will turn off moderates who previously supported Republicans for whatever their reasons, probably involving tax cuts and well-funded police. NBC News interviewed Genevieve Hoffman, an attorney in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, who describes herself as — don’t laugh — “fiscally conservative and socially liberal” (this is the Betamax of political identities). She’s a registered Republican, but you could’ve knocked her over with a feather when Republican-nominated-and-confirmed justices did exactly what Republican presidents have vowed they would.
“Because Roe was so settled for me, in the past I still felt comfortable voting for candidates who did not share that view,” said Hoffman […]. “After Roe, I’m realizing clearly it is no longer settled law. I cannot in good conscience vote for a candidate who continues to take away women’s rights.
Hoffman supported DeWine in 2018, but says she’s voting for Whaley in November.
Ohio Republicans have openly proposed banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. The parameters for when doctors could legally save the life of the mother would prove legally perilous, requiring doctors to affirmatively defend their decision in court. Most doctors agree this would only put pregnant people at great risk. Some Republicans want to ban abortion pills and restrict travel for pregnant people who might leave the state for an abortion. This is all grotesque.
If elected governor, Whaley would serve as the last line of defense. She’d veto any forced-birth, fugitive uterus bills the GOP-controlled Ohio legislature drags up from the depths of hell.
“The only way we are going to protect this – because of gerrymandering and the extremists in the legislature – is to elect a Democratic governor who will fight to protect these rights and then make sure that we take it to the ballot and that we have the power to be able to do that. We can do that a lot easier and a lot more effectively frankly if we have a Democratic governor leading that effort, ” Whaley said.
According to a Suffolk University poll, Ohio voters consider abortion the second most important issue in the race, after the economy. However, just 48 percent of voters outright oppose overturning Roe.
DeWine’s margin of victory in 2018 was just four points. Whaley is an underdog, but she still has a shot.
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