Power

Ohio Senate Approves Anti-Choice Leader for State Medical Board

The state senate has confirmed Ohio Right to Life President Michael Gonidakis.

Michael Gonidakis. Photo: Andrew Spear/The New York Times.

The Ohio state senate has reconfirmed its commitment to turning every vote into a battle over women’s rights by confirming Gov. John Kasich’s appointment of Mike Gonidakis to the Ohio State Medical Board. Gonidakis, the former executive director of Ohio Right to Life, has been a leading figure in the state’s attempts to restrict a woman’s right to choose, especially when it came to trying to de-fund Ohio Planned Parenthood clinics.

According to the Associated Press, Gonidakis wasn’t Kasich’s only Right to Life appointment. The Republican governor also appointed Right to Life board chairman Marshal Pitchford to a panel that will help choose a new judge for the Ohio Supreme Court, a position that will likely be reviewing upcoming unconstitutional abortion bans that the state legislature will not be able to resist voting into law.