The Numbers

Words by Miranda Kiner

While the number of abortions in Ohio has been declining in recent years, House Bill 565 still pushes to prohibit all abortions in the state.

The Ohio Department of Health’s annual report of induced abortions shows that there has been a steady decline in abortion in Ohio since 1997 with 2016 having the lowest number of reported induced abortions since department began tracking in 1976.

60 percent of women in Ohio who had abortions in 2016 were between the ages of 20 and 29. 55 percent were performed under nine weeks of completed gestation and less than three percent were performed after 19 weeks.  

The proposed bill also includes that no state funding should be used to promote or perform abortions. This would mean that the state could cut funding for institutions like Planned Parenthood.

Only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s services provided were abortions, according to their 2016 annual report.

“After reviewing the Sixth Circuit panel decision, the Ohio Attorney General’s office will request en banc review. Nothing in the Constitution requires Ohio to use its funding discretion under these programs to support abortion providers, and we will appeal to the full Sixth Circuit,”  Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement issued after the ruling in Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio v. Hodges.

We reached out to Planned Parenthood but were unable to receive comment.