(The Center Square) – A pair of Ohio Republican lawmakers want the state to stop paying for death.
Reps. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, and Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, are pushing a new bill that would stop the death penalty, prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for assisted suicide and clarify the state’s current law of funding abortions with taxpayer money.
“It is time for Ohio to not just be fiscally responsible, but morally responsible and committed to the dignity of every human life at every stage by prohibiting state-funded death,” Schmidt said during sponsor testimony for House Bill 72 in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
Schmidt told the committee her views on the death penalty have changed over the last 20 years, moving from a proponent to being against it after she said her eyes were opened to the injustices of wrongful convictions.
“We know that innocent people have been sentenced to death,” Schmidt said. “Ohio alone has had 11 people exonerated from death row. I’ve met some of them.”
Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved adding reproductive rights – including the right to have an abortion – in the state’s constitution in November 2023, with nearly 60% voting in favor of the new amendment.
“The voters have spoken about access to abortion. Our bill doesn’t challenge anyone’s ability to access an abortion under Ohio’s constitution,” Schmidt said. “It simply restates that no state funds will be used for an abortion. These dollars will be used to support women who choose to raise their children.”
Earlier this year, bipartisan legislation was introduced to abolish the death penalty in the state, but the ACLU of Ohio opposed it, saying it also restricts money for abortion medication.
“For too long, we have accepted a legal regime where taxpayer dollars can be used to fund actions that violate the most fundamental principle of civil society: the sanctity of human life,” Mathews said. “Publicly funded abortion, the death penalty, and assisted suicide represent a state-sanctioned disregard for life – and our bill confronts all three head-on with a strong and clear “no.” By prohibiting public funds from being used to terminate human life, this legislation sends a clear and uncompromising message: Ohio will not fund death.”
