The Black Women Who Fought for Ohio’s Historic Abortion Win

Voters recently approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion—thanks, in part, to the Ohio Women’s Alliance.

BY LARADA LEE-WALLACE
NOV 21, 2023

This year, on November 7, Ohio voters made history. In a statewide vote, constituents approved a constitutional amendment that will guarantee access to abortion and other reproductive health care, making it the seventh state in the nation where voters have protected abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, per the Associated Press. The victory came just a few months after a special election in which Ohio voters also rejected a Republican-backed measure that would’ve made changing the state’s constitution even more difficult—a move many believed was a deliberate attempt to derail the proposed amendment.

Continued: https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a45876130/ohio-abortion-rights-amendment-2023/


Abortion rights are on a winning streak at the ballot box. Ohio could test that.

Abortion rights have won on the ballot in red states before, but here's how Ohio's Issue 1 measure is different.

Grace Panetta
October 10, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On a cloudy recent Friday morning, thousands of protestors descended on the Ohio statehouse for the March for Life, many holding signs with sayings like, “Ohio is Pro-Life” and “Vote No on Issue 1.”  That measure, Issue 1, would guarantee a constitutional right to an abortion and other reproductive health care.

All eyes were on Ohio, said Jeanne Mancini, president of the national anti-abortion March for Life. They were at a “cultural crossroads, she said, and Ohioians would be judged on their vote on November 7.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2023/10/ohio-issue-1-abortion-ballot-measure-november/


USA – How anti-abortion advocates are pushing local bans, city by small city

Across Ohio, tactics pioneered in Texas are being deployed in disruptive city council meetings

Audra Jane Heidrichs
Tue 23 Nov 2021

In May of this year, six city council members in Lebanon, Ohio, a city located just north of Cincinnati, voted on an ordinance that would effectively outlaw abortion for the 21,000 people that call it home.

As in countless council meetings in small cities across the country where mask mandates, teaching about race in schools and access to reproductive healthcare have become politically charged in America’s current climate, the night unfolded in a series of near-Shakespearean acts.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/23/anti-abortion-local-bans-ohio


Ohio Lawmakers Have Introduced An Abortion Ban That Goes Even Further Than The Texas Law

“It is changing a constitutional definition of when a person is recognized in the law to a fertilized egg starting at conception,” one reproductive rights advocate said.

Nicole Fallert, BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on November 18, 2021

A group of Ohio lawmakers want to pass an abortion law that would be even more restrictive than the six-week ban in Texas, a move reproductive rights advocates say has already had a chilling effect among those in the state’s right-to-choose community.

Ohio House Bill 480 would make abortion at any stage of pregnancy illegal. It also includes some of the same elements as the six-week abortion ban, known as SB 8, that went into effect in Texas on Sept. 1 — namely, that it would allow virtually anyone to file lawsuits against any person who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion” for up to $10,000.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolefallert/ohio-texas-abortion-bill


USA – The Capitol Insurrection Was Fed by the Anti-Abortion Movement

BY Tina Vásquez, Prism
February 2, 2021

Reproductive justice advocate Jordyn Close watched with the rest of the nation on Jan. 6 as Donald Trump supporters invaded the Capitol. Some were outfitted in tactical gear and had zip ties at the ready. Others brought nooses and pitchforks and Confederate flags. The insurrectionists broke windows, ransacked lawmakers’ offices, and spread feces on the Capitol walls. By the end of it all, five people died.

The escalation from rhetoric to violence at the Capitol has shocked many Americans. Close, who works with Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity (URGE), is an abortion storyteller with We Testify, and who serves on the board of the abortion fund Women Have Options Ohio, is less surprised. Very early into the news coverage of the insurrection, Close saw a number of familiar faces. Overwhelmingly, these were white men who — when not trying to overthrow the government — spend a great deal of their time harassing people outside of abortion clinics.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/the-capitol-insurrection-was-fed-by-the-anti-abortion-movement/


USA – The Harassment We Face as Abortion Storytellers

The Harassment We Face as Abortion Storytellers
In a recent study, 60 percent of abortion storytellers reported experiencing harassment and other negative incidents after sharing their stories.

Mar 5, 2020
Jordyn Close & Paige Alexandria

I had an abortion five years ago when I was 18. Ever since I began sharing my story publicly, I’ve received online harassment and death threats—and I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this.

My name is Jordyn Close, and I’m an abortion storyteller.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/03/05/the-harassment-we-face-as-abortion-storytellers/


USA – How Abortion Storytellers Feel About Michelle Williams’ Golden Globes Speech

How Abortion Storytellers Feel About Michelle Williams’ Golden Globes Speech
Actress Michelle Williams highlighted that parenting and choosing abortion are not mutually exclusive. Her speech comes at a critical juncture for abortion rights in the United States.

Jan 7, 2020
Aimee Arrambide, Jordyn Close & Sarah Lopez

During Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, actress Michelle Williams used her win for best actress in a limited series to emphasize the power of supporting working women in all aspects of their lives, including being able to choose what to do with a pregnancy.

Williams, pregnant with her second child, told the audience that winning the award meant they were “acknowledging the choices” actors make, including “the education they pursued, the training they sought, the hours they put in.” Her speech then pivoted to talk about “choices” as they relate to pregnancy, and alluded to the #MeToo movement in Hollywood and the power of voting rights:

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/01/07/how-abortion-storytellers-feel-about-michelle-williams-golden-globes-speech/