Sign at the ProMedica protest on Wednesday
Ohio has some of the most ridiculous and onerous abortion ‘regulations’ in the country. One of these ‘regulations’ requires a ‘transfer agreement’ between a hospital and a clinic under the guise of ‘patient safety’. ProMedica, a large private hospital group in the Toledo area is saying it won’t sign a transfer agreement with Toledo’s only abortion clinic because it doesn’t want to take sides in the abortion debate. By refusing to enter into an agreement ProMedica is in fact taking a side and it isn’t supporting women’s health.
Here is a brief explanation of Ohio abortion “regulations”:
In 2013, Gov. John Kasich (R) approved a budget bill that included some of the harshest anti-abortion legislation in the country, including a provision requiring abortion clinics to have “transfer agreements” with private hospitals.
Requiring abortion doctors to enter into unnecessary partnerships with hospitals — a legislative strategy known as the “Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers,” or TRAP — is becoming increasingly popular on the state level. TRAP laws are written under the guise of patient safety, as abortion opponents argue that clinics need to be adequately regulated. In reality, however, they function as back-door abortion bans by making it too difficult for clinics to stay open.
Ohio’s TRAP law is even more stringent than most. The provision tucked into the state’s 2013 budget forbids abortion clinics from entering into transfer agreements with public institutions — which prevents them from partnering with the large teaching hospitals affiliated with state schools, like the University of Toledo. Most of the private hospitals, meanwhile, are Catholic-affiliated and won’t partner with abortion providers on religious grounds.
If clinics are unable to get a transfer agreement, they can apply for a waiver through the Ohio Department of Health, which has been stacked with several anti-abortion activists who were appointed by Kasich. The department has the power to deny clinics’ applications and shut them down. Over the past two years, since the last budget became law, this is the process through which half of the state’s abortion clinics have been forced to close.
This State’s Attempt To ‘Regulate Abortion Out Of Existence’ Is Flying Under The Radar
Capital Care Network Abortion Clinic, Toledo’s last abortion clinic has a transfer agreement with a Michigan hospital 50 miles away but a new state regulation now requires the hospital to be within 30 miles. ProMedica is the only private non-catholic hospital in the area. If they don’t enter into an agreement the clinic most likely will be forced to close since the state has been denying waivers.
Protesters picketed Wednesday near one of ProMedica’s hospitals to bring awareness to the issue and try to get the company to enter an agreement.
In a statement, ProMedica says they do not have transfer agreements with abortion clinics. They say that the hospital is committed to providing care to patients regardless of an agreement, but that they find the issue to be between the clinics and lawmakers and do not want to choose a political side.
You see the logic problem. Abortion clinics are required to have a transfer agreement. ProMedica is refusing to sign one so it has picked a political side – against women’s health.
To be sure an agreement is NOT needed medically because in the rare case an issue would arise, the patient would be taken to the nearest hospital and the hospital couldn’t refuse treatment. The need for a transfer agreement is purely political. ProMedica would not be impacted in any way by signing it yet they refuse to do so. They refuse to sign an agreement about a legal medical procedure.
Not signing the agreement would be like a hospital not administering state required vaccines because the requirement came from the state house.
Feel free to contact ProMedica and in a calm rational way ask them to support women’s health and help prevent needless pain and possible deaths that would occur should the clinic close:
