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Ohio's Right to Life Chief Will Recuse Himself From an Ohio Medical Board Abortion Case

photo of Mike Gonidakis
STATE OF OHIO/OHIO PUBLIC TELEVISION

There are calls for the president of the Ohio State Medical Board to step down over comments he’s made about a pending case. 

Earlier this month, Ohio Right to Life filed a complaint with the state’s medical board, accusing three Dayton physicians of performing an abortion on a woman who was could not give consent because she had been drugged or impaired.

Ohio Right to Life’s president Mike Gonidakis is also the president of the state medical board. Common Cause spokeswoman Catherine Turcer says he should step down.

“He’s made it really clear that he’s already made a decision in a case that is coming before the state medical board,” Turcer said.

Gonadakis says he won’t be deciding that case.

“I will recuse myself from the case, just to avoid the appearance of a conflict,” he said.

However, Gonadakis says he won’t step down from the board. He says he’s done a good job and wants to continue as president of the medical board until his term is up at the end of next year.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.