Contact:  Molly Smith, 440-668-4049, Mollyannsmith1@gmail.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio, Sept. 16, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- In what is being described as the largest Ohio grassroots effort in decades, over 100 groups have signed a letter to Governor John Kasich asking for an end to taxpayer funding for abortion in Ohio, making this one of the most unified defunding efforts by the grassroots in the country.  
  
"It has now been weeks since the videos chronicling the atrocities being committed by Planned Parenthood have come to light," stated Barry Sheets, spokesperson for the coalition. "While true pro-life leaders in Louisiana, Alabama, and even New Hampshire have curtailed funding, Ohio's governor has not acted on this matter." 

The coalition points to the recent appeal by Rand Paul as a stark contrast to Gov. John Kasich's response to the scandal.  While Paul has stepped up, Kasich has made disturbing statements that indicate that he will not take action on this issue. He has said that Conservatives "focus too much on just" abortion, and "it's the law of the land now."

Molly Smith, President of Cleveland Right to Life and an original signer on the letter, said "While the Governor consistently refers to the pro-life laws he has signed as evidence of his pro-life credentials, Christian conservatives have pointed out that most of the credit for these laws go to the pro-life legislators who fought for them." She noted, "Now is Kasich's chance to use his executive powers to cripple these deadly organizations and he is missing in action.  This calls into question his prolife credentials." 

The Governor's staff say that he has already defunded Planned Parenthood but this is not true; funding was only temporarily re-prioritized in 2013. 

"It is disingenuous for his office to be telling voters that he defunded Planned Parenthood, when in fact funding increased to $1.3 million dollars in 2014. This type of obfuscation, is damaging to the Governor.  It suggests that ending abortion will not be on the agenda during a Kasich Presidency," said Smith.
  
Cleveland Right to Life is dedicated to principled actions in the body politic and, will continue to insist that tax dollars are not used to fund modern-day, Nazi -style research centers or to support the human rights violations that refuse to recognize the personhood of all human life.
  
The CRTL petition is available here.  Call 614-466-3555 to contact the Governor's office or email him.