John Kasich is the most dangerous man in the Republican Party right now. Yeah, I said it. The current Governor of Ohio is currently running for the Republican nomination for president, and has signed into law provisions concerning abortion that would make other candidates shake in their boots. Kasich positions himself as a moderate within the Republican party. This is wrong: he has some of the most extremely conservative views and has passed some of the most extremely conservative policies the party has ever seen. His work to prevent the women of Ohio from obtaining an abortion is draconian at best, and he needs to be stopped.

In a July 2015 article, PBS reporter Sarah McHaney detailed Kasich’s stand on 10 different issues in her article, “What does John Kasich believe?”

McHaney wrote, “In June 2013 the Ohio governor signed into law a bill to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, allowing an exception only if the life of the mother is in danger. The same legislation cut funding to Planned Parenthood and also required women to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion.”

This is horrifying. Forcing a woman to get an ultrasound before an abortion is a form of sexual assault, without a doubt. The procedure inflicts psychological and emotional trauma on the woman for no other reason than to scare her out of a safe, legal medical procedure that is her right. This invasive and unnecessary procedure is another way that Kasich is infringing upon a woman’s right to choose and making the state of Ohio an unsafe place for women altogether. I cannot find one justifiable reason to make a woman go through this abomination before getting an abortion, and I dare Kasich to give me one.

Planned Parenthood has since become a public enemy of Kasich, releasing paid ads attacking him and his policies, specifically a bill he passed in February stripping $1.3 million in grants from Planned Parenthood that are from the Ohio Department of Health. They have worked hard to expose him for being a staunch opponent of abortion and a woman’s right to choose. His position as an establishment Republican and a moderate only worked for so long, but the gloves are coming off and he will be revealed for what he really is: a monster.

Part of my beef with John Kasich is that he does not have a uterus, and yet insists on legislative punishments for those that do. Hey Kasich: My uterus, my opinion. Stay out of it.

In February 2016, Sarah Ferris, a health care reporter for The Hill, wrote about Planned Parenthood taking out paid ads against Kasich after his performance in the New Hampshire primary.

Ferris wrote, “Planned Parenthood is attacking Kasich for ‘quietly’ enacting 17 measures to restrict access to reproductive healthcare since he was elected governor in 2010.”

According to the website Mother Jones, “During Kasich’s time in office, the number of abortion providers in the state has dropped from 16 to eight.”

Planned Parenthood provides many services outside of abortion: sex education, domestic violence and sexual assault support, counseling, screenings for breast and cervical cancer, HIV and STD testing and more. According to the Planned Parenthood website, only three percent of their health services involve providing abortions. That means 97 percent of their services are not abortion-related. Yet somehow, when it comes to restrictive legislation concerning women’s reproductive rights, that 97 percent of non-abortion services are completely forgotten about and the three percent of services pertaining to abortion are thrust into the spotlight.

I cannot stress enough how dangerous this man is. As a pro-choice woman, I feel that everyone should have the right to choose what reproductive action is best for them, and that includes having access to a safe, legal abortion. There is no reason a woman should not be able to safely terminate a pregnancy, period. This governor is not interested in the life of the child after it is born, just that it is born at all. He should not be referred to as pro-life, but pro-fetus or anti-abortion. If he were really in support of the child, he would fund Planned Parenthood so that their mother can access health services for herself and her child.