Ohio does me Proud

Ohio State Budget Contains Funds for Abortion Alternative Program for College StudentsColumbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- The new Ohio state budget the legislature there is working on contains a new abortion alternatives program for pregnant and parenting students in college. It has the support of pro-life groups who hope to provide financial, pregnancy and other resources for the age group of people who most often have abortions. The pilot program to provide support services was included in the budget bill Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed on June 30. The budget provision would appropriate $50,000 in Fiscal Year 2009 for the Ohio Department of Health to make a grant or grants to up to four Ohio colleges to help establish an office to support pregnant and parenting students. The pilot program was added to the budget in the Ohio House as the result of efforts led by Rep. Shannon Jones, a Republican lawmaker. The program to encourage colleges to establish offices to assist pregnant and parenting students was one of the key items on Ohio Right to Life’s legislative agenda for the current session of the Ohio General Assembly. “Many pregnant college students choose abortion because they feel that their only other option is to drop out of school. They are often not aware of all of the support services that are available from various providers both on and off campus,” the group told LifeNews.com in a statement. “The pregnant and parenting student services office would help to remedy this problem.” Under the requirements of the bill, the on-campus pregnant and parenting student office would assess the college’s performance in offering student health insurance that includes coverage for prenatal and postpartum care and riders for children, and provide assistance in locating services or items that are available both on and off campus to meet the needs of pregnant and parenting students, including family housing, child care; flexible or alternative academic scheduling; education concerning responsible parenting and healthy marriages; maternity and baby clothing, baby food, and baby furniture. “We are pleased that the Ohio General Assembly has taken this positive step to help college students make the choice for life,” ORTL director Denise Mackura concluded.