The Witch Hunt Continues in Ohio - More Abortion Clinics Closing
With the closure of two more abortion clinics and a third on the brink of shutting down, Ohio women will have fewer places to terminate pregnancies than perhaps anytime since the years after the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.
A suburban Cincinnati clinic’s appeal to remain open was rejected last week by the Ohio Department of Health, which followed last month’s closure of a Cleveland facility. A Toledo center remains open during an appeal of its closure order.
Without those three - as well as two others that closed earlier this year - Ohio would be reduced to nine abortion clinics.
Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, applauded the reduction: “From our perspective we think that’s a good thing.”
Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, lamented it: “This is all a regulatory witch hunt and isn’t about patient safety.”
The Lebanon Road Surgery Center in Sharonville was ordered closed by the state because it did not have a valid transfer agreement - a pact with an area hospital to accept abortion patients if help is needed. The state health director rejected the clinic’s request for a variance, and his decision was upheld by a hearing officer last week.