Rep. Upchurch Condemns HB 754, Legislation That Will Track All Pregnancies in Ohio

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland) today strongly condemned House Bill (HB) 754, which will violate the rights and privacy of pregnant women across the state of Ohio.

“This legislation is an extreme overreach of power and a complete violation of privacy. The people of Ohio voted to enshrine reproductive rights into our constitution and this bill is just another attempt to strip away those rights,” said Rep. Upchurch. “This is an unnecessary expansion of the surveillance powers of the state that will only cause harm to Ohioans.”

Rep. Upchurch has previously introduced HB 542 which will require state, county, and municipal prisons to report pregnancy outcomes to the DRC, in an effort to understand the severity of stillbirth occurrences in correctional facilities across the state.

“We believe there is a lack of adequate health care in our state’s prisons and HB 542 is a step towards taking accountability for adverse outcomes for pregnancies. House Bill 542 does not invade the privacy of those who are incarcerated. This data does not include identifying information and will only include pregnancy outcome data so that stillbirths are not ignored. Ensuring that incarcerated individuals have access to high quality prenatal care is not the same as invasively tracking the pregnancies of every woman in the state,” concluded Rep. Upchurch.

HB 542 awaits its second hearing in committee.