Dr. Martin Haskell, the inventor of the partial-birth abortion procedure, donated $100,000 to an Ohio ballot measure that would scrap all limits to abortion in the state.
Haskell, who invented the procedure in Ohio and is the director of Women’s Med Center in Dayton, made the six-figure donation in March, campaign finance reports show.
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The money was given to Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights PAC, one of three major groups pushing Issue One, a constitutional amendment that would end any statewide restrictions on abortion in Ohio.
“By allowing abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy and eliminating commonsense health and safety protections for women, Issue One gives free rein to late-term abortionists like Martin Haskell,” Amy Natoce, press secretary for amendment opponent organization Protect Women Ohio, told the Washington Examiner. “No Ohioan wants to bring that type of extremism and tragedy to our state.”
Since it was invented by Haskell, partial-birth abortion, also known by its medical name “dilation and extraction,” has been made illegal in many places, including Ohio. The procedure involves dilating the mother’s cervix and pulling an intact baby through the birth canal.
Though partial-birth abortion is currently illegal in Ohio, opponents of the measure say Haskell is putting money behind the amendment to revive his procedure after 20 years.
“Haskell gave $100,000 to the campaign supporting Issue One because he knows it is an investment in his late-term abortion practice,” Natoce, who pointed to past congressional testimony Haskell gave in 1996, in which he mentioned “routinely” performing such abortions at 20-24 weeks, said.
With Election Day only weeks away, the ballot initiative fight is heating up. July campaign finance reports show Protect Women Ohio has raised around $16.4 million. The pro-amendment side, including OPRR PAC, Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, and Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, has raised about $10.6 million.
Those numbers are the latest published but are from before an August vote attempting to change the threshold to pass a constitutional amendment from a simple majority to 60%. That measure failed to pass.
Opponents of the amendment are also backed by national organizations such as SBA Pro-Life America and CatholicVote, while proponents are backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.
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The first day of in-person voting in Ohio was Oct. 11.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Haskell and the Women’s Med Center for comment on the donation.
