EMILYs List Condemns Dangerous Anti-Choice Legislation in Ohio

For Immediate Release
October 29, 2021

EMILYs List Condemns Dangerous Anti-Choice Legislation in Ohio

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the Ohio state Senate expanded upon the state’s already extreme anti-choice laws by passing a bill that would mandate political interference in family decisions and increase criminal liability for physicians performing abortion services. Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement in response: 

“Ohio Republicans have passed another dangerous and unnecessary anti-choice bill along party lines. This disgusting abuse of power is an attempt to control the personal health care decisions of Ohioans by criminalizing necessary and life-saving care. Furthermore, it forces physicians to overlook patients’ needs and make decisions out of fear of criminal prosecution. Republican lawmakers have no business interfering in the private relationship between health care providers and their patients. 

“Ohio desperately needs leadership from a Democratic pro-choice woman governor who will stand as the last line of defense against anti-choice legislation. EMILYs List is proud to support Mayor Nan Whaley in her gubernatorial run as she seeks to protect the right to choose from Republicans who continue to ignore the needs of their constituents.”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 158 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40 percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.