Last year, when Ohio Republicans attempted to pass a fetal heartbeat bill that would have banned abortion after six weeks, Democratic state Senator Nina Turner immediately went on the offensive by introducing bills designed to regulate the reproductive health of men. That bill was eventually defeated and Turner played a huge part in that victory for women across the state. Now, just over one year later, Turner is once again standing against yet another nasty effort by Republicans to restrict abortion rights for women that will ultimately harm women’s health overall.

What began as an ordinary state budget bill has been hijacked by anti-abortion fanatics and transformed into an all-out war on women’s health. Multiple provisions have been attached to the bill such as defunding Planned Parenthood, defunding rape crisis centers, banning patient transfer agreements with hospitals that will require abortion clinics to close, funneling tax dollars to right-wing operated pregnancy crisis centers designed to bully women into carrying pregnancies to term, and forcing women to undergo ultrasounds to find a fetal heartbeat and then be told all about it by their doctor. All of these provisions are meant to act in unison to cripple choice in Ohio. Enter, Nina Turner.

On Thursday, after praising Texas Senator Wendy Davis for fighting back against anti-abortion efforts there, Turner stood outside the Ohio statehouse and hurled a warning at her Republican colleagues, demanding that they abandon their effort to wipe out women’s reproductive rights or suffer the wrath of women all over the state and the nation.

“Thank God we have warrior women all over the country standing up for the cause. And speaking of warrior women, how about Sen. Wendy Davis? She is certainly one of my new heroes … Women in Texas, all over the country, and right here in Ohio are fed up. This isn’t about one bill or one state, it is about the unrelenting obsession with regulating a woman’s womb. Over 700 bills in 42 states in just the last few months have been introduced to regulate a woman’s constitutionally-guaranteed right to choose.”

Like Texas Senator Wendy Davis, Ohio Senator Nina Turner is leading an effort to block the dangerous Republican bill by rallying women and supporters of women’s rights to put considerable pressure on the GOP. Is it possible that women could stop the bill? The state legislature has already passed the bill so that leaves anti-choice Governor Kasich as the last possible person who has the power to reject the bill. If Ohio women flock to the capital to strongly protest the legislation in large numbers, there’s a chance to convince Kasich that pleasing the extreme right-wing isn’t worth the significant losses Republicans are likely to incur in 2014 as a result of passing this bill against the wills of women.

Republicans are playing a dangerous game. At long last, Republicans have finally out-stayed their welcome and have crossed a line that has provoked women into taking action. Clearly, heavy losses in 2012 did nothing to deter Republicans from pursuing their anti-abortion agenda. Now women are giving the GOP notice that they are sick and tired of being attacked year after year over an issue that was settled in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. 2012 was merely a warning shot from women. Apparently women need to sink the GOP ship in state after state in 2014 in order to slam the message through their thick skulls that the war on women and choice is totally outrageous and unacceptable. Republicans never intended to stop their war on women. Women are now saying enough is enough. It ends here.

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