(The Lion) — A bipartisan group of state legislators is pushing toward a consistent life ethic in Ohio.
Three Republicans and two Democrats are drafting a bill that would ban what they call the funding of death in Ohio.
The measure would prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortion, assisted suicide and capital punishment. Assisted suicide is already illegal in Ohio although several other states have legalized it. The capital punishment portion of the bill would outlaw the death penalty.
“We are here to prohibit all state-funded death,” state Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, told 10TV.
“Our bill ensures that taxpayer dollars are never used to fund the termination of human life whether it’s through abortion, assisted suicide or capital punishment,” he added.
Similarly, state Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, said the government shouldn’t pay to kill people.
“The state should not be subsidizing death,” he told News 5 Cleveland. “It should not be subsidizing ending human life, no matter the form, no matter the circumstance.”
Abortion would remain legal in Ohio if the bill becomes law – which is why Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, also supports the proposal.
“Nothing in our bill will take that away from anyone in the state of Ohio,” Antonio told 10TV.
Antonio called the bill a compromise.
“My preference would have been to introduce the same bill we’ve introduced for all these years,” Antonio told reporters, adding it was “not possible to get a majority of our colleagues in the Legislature to sign on, to commit to voting for it.”
Rachel Muha, a Cleveland native whose son Brian was executed 25 years ago, also backs the bill.
“True justice does not mask suffering with more violence,” she told 10TV. “Instead, it calls us to respond to even the most imaginable pain with love.”
The ACLU of Ohio strongly opposes the proposal.
“Our organization has maintained an anti-death penalty stance since our founding, but this ‘bait and switch’ bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, slyly designed to limit how public funds can be used for abortion care and coverage,” the ACLU said in a statement.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, won’t commit to supporting the proposal.
“While we support — many of us support — eliminating the death penalty, we have to do it while also maintaining those reproductive freedoms,” Russo said.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has a de facto moratorium on execution, claiming the state lacks access to lethal injection drugs. He has said that as long as he is in office, Ohio won’t execute anyone.
Ohio currently has 119 death row inmates.
The lawmakers plan to file the bill next week.
