'Abhorrent,' 'disturbing': VP Harris' abortion clinic visit another loss for Ohio opponents

When Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Minnesota abortion clinic Thursday, it was a historic moment for reproductive rights advocates on a winning streak at the ballot box in states like Ohio.

For abortion opponents in Ohio, it was a tragedy and yet another loss.

"It's abhorrent that anyone would campaign in an abortion clinic," state Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, said. Roegner has sponsored legislation to ban most abortions in Ohio and opposed the state's recent ballot measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution.

More: Kamala Harris declares 'health crisis' in historic visit to abortion clinic in Minnesota

"Even when someone makes a decision to have an abortion, I have to believe it's done with the utmost gravity," Roegner said. "That's why it should not be used as a campaign stop, promoting a tour like it's a book to be celebrated. It's not."

Roegner and fellow abortion opponents were dealt a blow in November when Ohioans approved a constitutional amendment that added protections for abortion, fertility treatment and other reproductive decisions to the state constitution. The 57-43% vote represented a backlash against decades of Republican laws limiting abortion access and closing abortion providers in the state.

Ohio was the seventh state to vote on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. More states are expected to follow suit this fall as Harris and Democratic President Joe Biden seek reelection. Democrats hope to parlay voters' support for abortion access into support for the Biden-Harris ticket.

Harris' visit is believed to be the first time a president or vice president has visited a clinic that provides abortion services.

"We have to be a nation that trusts women," Harris said at the Minnesota clinic, criticizing Republicans who impose abortion restrictions. "How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need, to tell women what is in their best interest."

But even if that message resonates with Ohioans who voted to protect abortion access, there's no guarantee that Biden and Harris will resonate as candidates. Ohio voters demonstrated this disconnect when they overwhelmingly reelected GOP Gov. Mike DeWine in 2022 − even though he signed the state's most restrictive abortion ban and declared Ohio a "pro-life state."

"Ohioans and Americans are not going to the ballot box to vote for president based on abortion. It's just simply not happening," said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, which opposed the constitutional amendment.

Ohio has twice picked former President Donald Trump by eight percentage points and nearly all its statewide elected officials are Republicans. Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown faces a tough reelection bid this year in a seat Republicans believe they can flip.

Still, Gonidakis finds Harris' visit "disturbing" and evidence that the Biden administration has nothing better to offer voters. "The only issue that they have is abortion so it would make sense that they would go in at an abortion clinic," Gonidakis said.

"VP Harris’ visit to an abortion facility offers an impoverished vision of policies our country can enact to respect women, life and address the challenges and gifts of motherhood," said Michelle Duffey, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Conference of Ohio. Ohio's Catholic churches spent time and money in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to block the reproductive rights amendment in November.

But Kellie Copeland, executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio, said Harris' visit sends a message to voters in Ohio who care about abortion access. She encouraged the Biden administration to be even more direct by saying the word "abortion" and advocating for reproductive healthcare.

"Ohio is and always has been deeply in favor of people having access to abortion without stigma, without shame and without political interference," said Copeland, who campaigned for the recent ballot measure. "When it comes to abortion, we don’t like to beat around the bush."

Sen. Roegner isn't beating around the bush either. "If this is really what the Biden-Harris administration has to run on, then it's a sorry state of affairs for them."

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Harris' clinic visit 'abhorrent' for Ohio abortion opponents