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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Pro-Choice Groups: Kasich "Playing Games" with Women's Health

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Wednesday, December 14, 2016   

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Saying it's the "most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life," Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday approved a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. The governor also vetoed the so-called "heartbeat bill," that would have restricted abortions beyond six weeks when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

Kellie Copeland, executive director of the group NARAL Pro-Choice, which opposed both measures, said there's nothing to celebrate.

"Governor Kasich is playing games with women's health," she said. "He thinks that if he vetoes one measure and signs another, that Ohioans won't notice that he has enacted the 18th restriction on access to women's reproductive health care."

The anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life said the new law will save hundreds of unborn lives each year, but opponents argue it's dangerous legislation that threatens women's health. The measure sets the stage for a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case which allows a woman to terminate a pregnancy before the viability of a fetus, at about 24 weeks.

Lisa Wurm, policy manager for the ACLU of Ohio, contends the 20-week ban is unconstitutional and interferes with health decisions that should remain between a woman and her doctor.

"However we feel about abortion at different points in a pregnancy, a woman's health should absolutely drive these medical decisions," she said. "Politicians are not medical experts, and this is not where they should be interfering."

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to support measures in Congress that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks, and to cut funding for Planned Parenthood if it performs the procedure. Copeland is telling pro-choice supporters to remain vigilant.

"Ohio women who need access to abortion later in pregnancy, they really are the first victims of the Trump presidency," she added. "And people who support access to abortion and reproductive health care will need to step up and fight in the days and weeks ahead."

Twenty-week abortion bans are already in place in more than a dozen states, but federal judges have found them unconstitutional in two states.


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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


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Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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