Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) is trying to stake out the "moderate" territory in the Republican presidential primary—he's the Jeb! Bush alternative for people scared of Donald Trump and who want a candidate actually capable of being in the public eye without saying stupid stuff every third day. The problem with that theory, though, is that Kasich is no moderate and where his extremism really shows is in the thing that keeps coming back to bite Republicans in the ass: the War on Women. The Ohio House of Representatives is considering legislation to criminalize providing abortions for women because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, enforcing a sentence of up to 18 months in prison on the doctor. And Ohio Right to Life it
putting pressure on Kasich to sign it, if the legislature actually passes it.
"I am very confident that he will sign the bill," says Michael Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. Gonidakis adds, "There is no candidate running for president who has done more for the pro-life movement than John Kasich."
While Kasich is quick to share his pro-life beliefs, his actual abortion record has not been so widely broadcast, because the restrictions he has enacted have been slipped into big, complex budget bills. This legislation, however, forces Kasich, who has largely been labeled a moderate in a GOP race filled with candidates further to the right, to take a broadly publicized stance on a relatively new type of abortion legislation. Only North Dakota has enacted similar legislation, when in 2013 it banned abortions based off diagnoses of Down syndrome, the sex of the baby, or the potential for a genetic abnormality.
Kasich has not yet commented on the bill. "The governor is pro-life and believes strongly in the sanctity of human life, but we don't take a public position on every bill introduced into the Ohio General Assembly," his spokesman Rob Nichols tells Mother Jones in an email.
Kasich is probably just praying that the legislature finds itself too busy to take up the bill, which so far has just passed out of committee, because it puts him in such a difficult political position. He can't win the nomination if the base thinks he's inadequately ideological—and his decision to accept Medicaid expansion already puts him in danger there—and he can't win a general election if everyone else discovers just how much Ohio Right to Life loves him. Putting doctors in jail for assisting women in making the deeply personal decision about their lives and their families would also be pretty obnoxious and pretty unpopular for lots and lots of voters.
Gonidakas says the legislation should be on Kasich's desk by Thanksgiving, and adds some more pressure: "Actions do speak louder than words. The proof is in the pudding, and you can just look at the results here in Ohio."