CLEVELAND, Ohio — Somewhere in Ohio today, a baby will be born too soon. Maybe in Cuyahoga County, where infant mortality just climbed to its highest level in five years. Maybe in a rural town, where a family can’t find a doctor. Maybe to a mother whose heart is full but whose paycheck ran out before the month did.
That baby’s chance of seeing a first birthday will depend not only on love and luck but on whether Ohio lawmakers believe in saving lives more than winning a never-ending culture war.
In their sprawling, $61 billion budget plan passed Wednesday, House Republicans gutted $22.5 million that Gov. Mike DeWine wanted to expand a proven nurse home-visit program. The plan — known as Family Connects — would have sent trained nurses into homes in the critical weeks after a baby’s birth, offering food assistance, lactation help, mental health checks and urgent referrals. Early results showed it could cut postpartum anxiety by 28%, slash ER visits and hospital stays by 50%, and save an estimated 330 babies every year…