Abortion advocates rally at Ohio Statehouse for Issue 1 before polls open for early voting
After years hanging in their closets, friends Carolyn Harding and Mary Kestner both pulled out their wedding dresses Sunday afternoon once more.
It was for a vow renewal of sorts.
But rather than to their spouses, Harding and Kestner donned their wedding dresses and white sashes saying "I do" in support of Ohio Issue 1, which would enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution and effectively eliminate many of the GOP bans and restrictions on the procedure.
Ohio Issue 1: Everything you need to know about Ohio's abortion issue on the November 7, 2023 ballot
A pure white wedding dress, said Harding, of Bexley, was the perfect symbol for a woman's right to choose.
"Twenty-seven years later, I'm putting my wedding dress to work for reproductive rights," she said.
Harding and Kestner were among dozens of others who attended the "Bans Off Ohio Day of Action" on Sunday at the Ohio Statehouse. It was one of six rallies held statewide, with other events taking place in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo.
The rally marked one month until the Nov. 7 general election and was held just days before early voting begins Wednesday. On Friday, Oct. 6, opponents of Issue 1 participated in the second Ohio March for Life on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse.
Speakers from a number of local and statewide reproductive rights organizations addressed the crowd during Sunday's rally, encouraging attendees not only to vote "yes" on Ohio Issue 1, but to also tell others about what the amendment is all about.
More: Ohio March for Life rallies abortion opponents at Statehouse before Issue 1 vote
Lauren Blauvelt, vice president of government affairs and public advocacy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, told the crowd that Ohio Issue 1 would protect more than just abortion access. It would also preserve access to fertility treatments, miscarriage care and contraception options.
"The majority of Ohioans support abortion access," Blauvelt said. "They just need to know this is the election to vote for it."
A July USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll found about 57.6% of Ohio voters supported the abortion rights proposal; 32.4% opposed it and 10% were undecided, according to the poll of 500 voters, 454 likely voters and 46 registered voters.
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and turned abortion policymaking back to state legislators and judges, voters in six other states sided with abortion access, including neighboring Michigan and Kentucky.
Opponents of the abortion-rights amendment said the proposal goes too far and must be defeated.
"Pro-life and pro-choice Ohioans agree that Issue 1 is too radical for Ohio. Issue 1 will enshrine late-term abortion up until the moment of birth in our Constitution, strip away parental rights, and eliminate health and safety protections for women. Issue 1 goes further than Roe, and will make Ohio the most extreme abortion regime in the country," according to a statement from Protect Women Ohio, a coalition opposing Issue 1.
Several of Sunday's abortion-rights speakers called out Ohio's Republican lawmakers who seek to restrict abortion access, even in cases of rape.
"Those in the building behind us think they know better than us," Blauvelt said, pointing to the Ohio Statehouse.
After Roe was overturned last summer, a 2019 law banning most abortions in Ohio took effect almost immediately. That law prohibited doctors from performing abortions after embryonic cardiac activity was detected, which is about six weeks gestation.
In September 2022, a Hamilton County judge temporarily blocked that law. For now, abortion is currently legal in Ohio through 21 weeks and six days gestation.
Sierra Dobbs-Brown, administrative assistant for the Abortion Fund for Ohio, said Ohio Issue 1 would prevent such a law from being put back in place.
"We're not operating under the six-week, near-total ban, but it will be back if we don't pass Issue 1," she said. "It's the best thing we can do to protect that access."
Other speakers shared their own personal abortion stories.
Shakti Rambarran, a board member with the Abortion Fund of Ohio, told attendees the story of her abortion from nearly six years ago. Rambarran said that even with good health insurance, the financial means and a supportive partnership, it still took more than two weeks to get the care she needed.
"Every single person deserves dignified access to abortion care," Rambarran said. "Everyone deserves the right to determine if they become a parent, and when they become a parent."
That focus on personal choice is what brought Susan Quinn to Sunday's rally. She carried with her a sign reading: "Pro-Faith, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice."
"I'm Catholic, and my parish priest told me years ago, 'It's choice that makes faith,'" Quinn, of Athens, said. "Choice is the basis of faith and self-determination."
Quinn said she believes abortion is a necessary procedure and part of a good health care system. Personal choice, she said, is core to family planning.
"I wouldn't argue against how many children someone could have," she said. "In order to have a family you can support and love and plan for, abortion has to be a choice."
Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.
shendrix@dispatch.com
@sheridan120
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Abortion advocates rally at Statehouse before Ohio Issue 1 vote
