Nan Whaley: Gov. DeWine’s Ohio Is ‘a Place Where Women Won’t Want to Be’

In July, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 10-year-old rape victim was forced to leave Ohio to get an abortion. It seemed like Whaley—a squarely pro-choice candidate—wouldn’t have to do much more than let Republican candidates and lawmakers in the state trip over themselves. Ohio Attorney General David Yost, who’s also up for reelection, questioned the victim’s validity during an appearance on Fox News. Senate candidate JD Vance, who’s said he supported outlawing abortion in Ohio, recently fashioned it into a cautionary tale about “illegal immigration.” DeWine has largely stayed mum apart from calling it a “tragedy.” When prompted, he refused to say whether he agreed that minors should be forced to carry their rapist’s babies to term. However, his actions have said quite enough. According to sworn affidavits made public in September, there have been over two dozen instances of minors being forced to leave the state to seek abortions—two of which involved cancer patients—following the Dobbs decision.

“He doesn’t want to answer the question about whether or not he thinks it’s OK for a 10-year-old to carry her rapist’s child to term because I don’t think it will be a popular answer with Ohioans,” Whaley told Jezebel. In his endorsement interview with the Plain Dealer editorial board, DeWine called her abortion-without-exceptions stance a “radical position,” and claimed she is “the one who is out of the mainstream of what Ohioans think.”

Is she? Not according to a recent poll. In early October, nearly 60% of Ohio voters said they support enshrining abortion access in the state constitution. An August poll by the ACLU found that 82% of Ohioans are in favor of some form of abortion access.

Doctors in the state are calling on DeWine for explanation, too. On Wednesday, a group of more than 1,000 doctors (Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights) said DeWine declined to answer nine questions they sent to him about policies that unnecessarily endanger lives and make their jobs more difficult—just days after he said he would consult with medical professionals on abortion legislation. In an email, DeWine’s office told Jezebel it declined to answer the doctors’ questions because they “did not raise new issues that had not been previously addressed by our office.” Issues, that have clearly not been adequately accounted for.

Ohio is also at risk of a doctor shortage due to DeWine’s anti-abortion efforts, and Whaley told Jezebel she’s had multiple meetings on the subject.

“I’ve done probably like four or five roundtables with med students and doctors now, and what I hear from them over and over—in addition to the harrowing stories that they share in their effort to provide care to their patients—is that they call lawyers before they’re even able to practice medicine,” she said. “That’s what’s happening in the state… Med students are like, ‘No, I’m probably not going to practice here anymore.’”

Even still, DeWine is ahead of Whaley in polling, touting supposedly stellar economic policies and a nationally regarded response to the COVID-19 pandemic as arguments that he deserves another term. His favorability ratings are twice as high as those of most other state officials and candidates, despite statistics showing Ohio lost the most jobs in the nation in September.

“The numbers tell the story that Ohio is on the top of bad lists and the bottom of good ones, even on economic opportunity,” Whaley said. She’s not wrong. Ohio leads the nation on infant mortality rates, and its economic health has been deemed mediocre at best. “The state is at a crossroads in this election,” she continued. “It’s going to decide whether it’s going to be a community that’s about growth, opportunity, freedom, women’s rights and workers rights being protected, or, if it’s going to continue to constrict, not support growth, and be a place where women won’t want to be.”

This week, the Guardian reported on Michigan, a bordering state, calling it a “blueprint” for reproductive healthcare access in the Midwest, concluding that it just may be abortion that decides upcoming midterm races there. But Ohio, too, is a blueprint. With only six full-service abortion clinics remaining in the state, legislation like House Bill 704—which would simply ban abortion outright—sitting in the statehouse, and a strong likelihood of a second DeWine term, anti-abortion activists are watching and learning.

“Ohio isn’t a red state or a blue state. It’s a frustrated state that’s been ignored by politicians from both parties for far too long,” Whaley asserted in her victory speech last May. By this election cycle’s end, however, Whaley, along with pro-choice voters in the state, are likely to be the ones most frustrated.