Ohio reproductive rights advocates say they're time-tested for the coming battles and attacks

Yahoo

10-02-2025

Abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion advocates protesting outside of the U.S. Supreme Court.(Getty Images)
Reproductive rights have been enshrined in the Ohio Constitution since 2023. Those who support those rights are readying themselves as rumblings of more ban attempts and disappearing federal government websites indicate times of struggle to come.
'It is bleak and I think in a lot of ways these are fights we've already fought, but we are also seeing new and scarier things take place,' said Jordyn Close, deputy director of the Ohio Women's Alliance.
In Ohio, anti-abortion activists are looking forRepublican lawmakers to introduce the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, which would attempt to overthrow the reproductive rights amendment passed by 57% of Ohio voters in 2023 by asserting that it violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, an argument legal experts have routinely criticized.
Meanwhile, with the dawn of the Trump administration last month, national anti-abortion measures began rolling out almost immediately. The week of his inauguration, one of the many executive orders President Donald Trump signed was meant to enforce the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion services. That order also undid two Biden-era executive orders meant to increase access to abortion services.
Trump also reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a Reagan-era order to bar foreign non-governmental organizations who receive federal funding for family planning from offering abortion as one option for families, and from referring to or counseling on abortion-related services.
Even earlier in his new term, Trump used the power of the pardon to release nearly two dozen individuals who were convicted on federal charges for blocking access to abortion clinics. He also gave a video speech at this year's March for Life rally in D.C., a rally Vice President J.D. Vance, a former Ohio senator, attended in person.
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But one of the first things that Americans noticed when the administration changed hands was the elimination of government websites, including the website that provided information on reproductive health resources.
'In general, it's so devastating that that has been taken off, because misinformation and stigma is actually the reason we're in this situation with abortion access,' said Lexis Dotson-Dufault, executive director of Abortion Fund Ohio.
Dotson-Dufault said her organization, which is not a clinic but a referral and resources service, served 6,100 people in 2024. The need continues to grow based on its service numbers, which amounted to fewer than 1,000 requests in 2021.
'Abortion funds exist because administrations long before Trump were not serving our communities in the best way possible,' Dotson-Dufault said. 'That's why we say Roe (v. Wade) was never enough, because if Roe was enough, we wouldn't need abortion funds that serve thousands and thousands of people.'
Because of the clear danger advocates see to the distribution of information about reproductive rights services, conversations in the community are going to become an even bigger part of the outreach abortion funds do.
'Our communities need to know this, it needs to be common information,' Dotson-Dufault said. 'It's really something free that people can do is sharing pro-abortion, accurate medical information.'
For Close and the Ohio Women's Alliance, bringing those resources to the public also means prioritizing 'investing in wellness this year across all our programs.'
They said that includes focusing on the Black community, for which state infant and maternal mortality numbers have ranked among the worst in the country.
'We are trying to really meet the need, the fullness of what the reproductive experience is for the average Black birthing person, whether that be abortion or other reproductive care,' Close said.
Advocates are still resolute about the power of the constitutional amendment in Ohio.
'The people of Ohio made it clear what they wanted,' Close said. 'Whether or not (legislators) seek to further erode the little democracy that is left in this state, I think no matter what happens, we have an amazing legal team, and we have the support of Ohioans.'
In January, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress didn't waste time in bringing up bills related to abortion, one in the Senate that aimed to create penalties for health care providers who fail to care for a fetus after an attempted abortion. Laws are already in place to criminalize killing a child or an adult under federal law.
The Senate bill was introduced on Jan. 15, and had 46 cosponsors, including Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno.
Democrats have successfully stalled progress on the Senate bill. Sponsors needed at least 60 senators to approve it, but it was defeated in a 52-47 procedural vote, with no Democratic votes in favor.
But bills like these and the anti-abortion sentiments publicly expressed by federal and state Republicans have driven some state medical professionals to speak up in their own way.
Dr. Lauren Beene, a founder of the advocacy group Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights — which championed the effort to amend the Ohio Constitution to include reproductive rights including abortion care — said her group is working on 'physician advocacy trainings,' to help doctors speak up.
'We're trying to empower doctors, help them understand how they can talk about reproductive rights,' Beene told the Capital Journal. 'I think a lot of doctors don't realize their voice.'
Physicians were spotlighted in the fight for the reproductive rights amendment after abortion bans and different regulations having to do with abortion services (including miscarriage care) caused doctors to question their own power to advise their patients. They wondered whether they'd be in legal trouble for fulfilling their medical oaths.
The grassroots trainings Beene has been a part of seek to help doctors recognize the resources and where to send patients, along with working with larger institutions like hospital systems and medical societies to make sure the correct information is getting to the public.
'I think that there's so much misinformation right now, and doctors have the ability to combat that through clearly explaining the facts and the science,' Beene said.
Uncertainty is still a problem or the doctors Beene has been in contact with.
'You could roll the dice and be surprised about what's going to happen today,' she said.
'This particular year is a scary time that we're living in, and I think that the more that we can do to prepare and empower doctors to continue to just speak out to whoever the more that we are all encouraged to do that, I think the better things will be,' Beene said.
In a legislative move separate from the U.S. Senate bill, a U.S. House resolution to bring about 'equal protection' under the 14th Amendment 'for the right to life of each born and preborn human person' was introduced on Jan. 24, and has 69 cosponsors, including Ohio Republican Reps. Warren Davidson and David Taylor.
This is national legislation that attempts the same argument that anti-abortion activists want to see made with the legislation in Ohio.
The U.S. House bill is still active, having been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary the same day it was introduced. The chair of that House committee is Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan.
These moves on the federal level don't come necessarily as a surprise to reproductive rights advocates, having spent years in Ohio under a Republican-controlled General Assembly and governor who have been staunch in their anti-abortion stances.
Advocates were also unsurprised to see the state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Dave Yost, is appealing a court decision that overturned the six-week abortion ban, though Yost has said his appeal argues that other laws, abortion-related or not, could be undone by the constitutional amendment.
'We have to remember the power that we have, and that these systems have not served us well in the past,' Dotson-Dufault said.
Despite the 'cascade of terrible, horrendous headlines' over the last month or so, Close said the onslaught has allowed new people to ride the wave into activism.
'I know that our communities are scared right now, but I also know that a lot of people are getting engaged in ways that they weren't before,' Close said. 'I hope they let their rage, and sadness and fear pour out and create a stronger community that can fight these injustices.'
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