Hours after signing Ohio’s new two-year budget into law, Gov. Mike DeWine took questions from reporters about his 14 vetoes – and about one measure he didn't strike out.
Despite pleas from women and minority groups, DeWine didn’t veto a clause that allows medical professionals to use their “conscience” to refuse to provide treatment to a person.
“People are not going to be discriminated against in regard to medical care," DeWine says.
DeWine said, for instance, doctors opposed to abortion are not performing those procedures. So, this, he says, would just put what’s happening now into law.
But some representatives of groups that represent women and minorities, including fear if a doctor is discriminating against a patient now because of their skin color, gender, or choice of treatment, this would make it legal to continue to do so. They say the language in the measure is too vague and open to interpretation.
