Columbus Dispatch
By Dina Berliner
Posted October 28th 2015
OHIO SENATOR BILL COLEY R-D4
Democrats also pointed to what they considered to be unfair treatment of the bill, as the committee overseeing it includes mostly Republicans and only one woman.
Sen. Bill Coley, a Republican from Liberty Township near Middletown and the committee chairman, said more than 50 people had signed up to testify at today’s hearing but insisted that a third hearing would only slow the process of approving a bill he was confident would pass.
“We want to get it moving and get it enacted into law as quick as possible,” he said.
Many who testified against the bill cited the services Planned Parenthood provides other than abortion, including sexual health education, contraceptives and cancer screenings. Advocates of the bill, including the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Keith Faber, R-Celina, said it was “sickening” that Planned Parenthood receives taxpayer dollars.
Coley also said he believes Planned Parenthood’s outreach is lacking in some rural parts of Ohio.
“The non-abortion services talked about today, they don’t provide in rural Ohio. They’re not there. That’s not where their locations are, so the important thing we’re focusing on today is making sure those services are more widely available to all Ohioans throughout the state,” Coley said after the hearing.
Kelly Novak, director of education and outreach for Planned Parenthood of greater Ohio, said that while Planned Parenthood centers are not in every county of the state, they often provide care for people in need.
“Many of our patients have said that we’re their only provider, so we go out of our way to provide both health care and education to underserved individuals,” she said. “While there may be other health-care providers in different communities, we have a business model that allows us to see people often on very short notice.”
The controversy over whether to fund Planned Parenthood arose this past summer after video, later found to be significantly edited, seemed to show workers selling fetal tissue from abortions.
“The last time I checked, regardless of how we feel about it, Roe v. Wade has made abortion legal in the U.S. and is the law of the land,” said Ohio Sen. Capri Cafaro, D- Hubbard, who voted against the bill. “This debate shouldn’t be about abortion anyway, it’s about access to health care.”
Now that it’s passed the Senate, the bill will go to the Ohio House, which has its own bill aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood.
Dina Berliner is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau.