Part Three – Politics Over Health:

Following an accidental approval of Women’s Med Center that was quickly rescinded, state leaders launched an internal investigation that lead to firings and retirements. Roy Croy, one of those retired health department chiefs, said, “Someone had to pay…politics are politics.” The state investigation revealed that the Ohio Department of Health created a watch list of clinics, and data shows the state is treating abortion clinics differently than other surgical centers.

In a letter to the editor, Mr. Croy said this abortion clinic was not losing its license “for any serious or legitimate reason, but for politics."

After Dr. Wymyslo resigned as health director, Governor Kasich appointed Richard Hodges, despite the Ohio Revised Code requirement that this person be a physician or show significant public health experience. Mr. Hodges currently leads the Ohio Turnpike Commission and has no significant experience qualifying him to lead the Ohio Department of Health. Mr. Hodges did, however, receive the Friend of Life Award by United Conservatives of Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Health is being used to push a political agenda. This is not good government, and it violates our social contract and trust.

Judge Myron Thompson, a federal judge in Alabama, said in Planned Parenthood Southeast v. Strange, “Suppose the government were to implement a new restriction on who may sell firearms and ammunition, and further, only two vendors in the State of Alabama were capable of complying with the restrictions.” While abortion and owning firearms are both constitutionally protected rights, they are treated very differently by state laws.

For 41 years, we have had the constitutional right to an abortion, but what good is having this right if the government stands in your way?

Read Part One – The Bureaucratic Smoke Screen & Part Two - Losing Access