John Kasich's "quiet campaign" to cut abortion access in Ohio was exposed in a piece published Tuesday on FiveThirtyEight.com by Detroit Metro-Times staff writer Allie Gross.
Since his gubernatorial reign began in 2011, Gross writes, "Kasich has signed every abortion and women’s reproductive health provision that has landed on his desk." Sixteen proposals, in total, have reduced funding for and access to abortion clinics throughout the state.
One such proposal, which banned rape-crisis counselors in state-funded facilities from referring women to abortion services, was the subject of a controversial gubernatorial endorsement video which Cleveland.com removed from its website in October, 2014 (to much objection).
In the video, Democratic opponent Ed FitzGerald tried to get Kasich to explain why the provision was necessary.
"With all due respect," FitzGerald said to the NEOMG editorial board after they gave Kasich a pass for a non-answer. "He has never once said why it was good public policy in the state of Ohio for a rape-crisis counselor to be limited in what she can advise a victim of sexual assault. And he didn't answer it [just now]. He started talking about pre-natal care and making sure that kids get enough sleep!"
Kasich has by no means trumpeted his anti-abortion policies, though he's reiterated his pro-life stance, and the media hasn't shone a spotlight on Ohio's measures in the way they did in Texas, as Gross notes. (Vox.com, at least, explained on Monday why Ohio's proposal to defund Planned Parenthood could be "disastrous.")
Kasich “hides behind a moderate mask," the executive director of NARAL Ohio told Gross. "But the truth is he has been quietly working behind the scenes to impose his radical personal views on Ohioans."