Ohio has closed half its abortion clinics because of new conservative legislation

State has become test-ground for anti-abortionists, say campaigners

The number of abortion procedures are declining in Ohio thanks to restrictive laws passed in the Buckeye State, according to a review of public documents.

The Associated Press found that over the past four years, the number of abortion clinics have also declined by half, with seven of sixteen providers having closed since 2011. Abortions have fallen from 25,473 in 2012 to 23,216 in 2013.

In 2013, the New York Times dubbed Ohio as the “laboratory” where anti-abortion groups pushed rules designed to test the boundaries of Supreme Court guidelines without explicitly violating them. Ohio follows in the footsteps of Texas, where 17 of 40 clinics have shut their doors due to restrictive legislation being passed.

Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis (above) believes the restrictions are not the only effort to keep abortions down, pointing to health care for the poor and to crisis pregnancy counseling as alternatives.

“It's a combination of a lot of things,” Mr Gonidakis said. “Our society's changing. More and more women are choosing life.”

However, abortion rights advocates are concerned that there is so much legislation being passed in Ohio that women are not able to receive the operations they need.

“These laws have all been about creating these false hurdles for clinics to have to jump through in order to provide safe, legal abortion care to their patients,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, told the AP.

Ohio Right to Life has announced plans to re-introduce additional abortion restrictions, a twice-defeated “heartbeat bill,” to ban abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.