The Fight is Far from Over
Name: Kristy Williams
Pronouns: she/her
Having an abortion myself in my early twenties, I would advocate for any and everyone to have control over their bodies and future. It changed my life for the better.
Fun fact about me: I have two cats, Meatloaf and Claire, and I LOVE to go on cruises!
Name: Sam Zern
Pronouns: she/her
I believe wholeheartedly in the reproductive justice framework, that every person has the right to choose if they want to parent, and to make that choice in a society that supports health, safety, and the ability to thrive for themselves and their families. Abortion is fundamentally an expression of that bodily autonomy and an exercise in asserting ownership over one’s self and future. TL;DR: abortion is a human right, and access to it is crucial.
This historic Independence Day weekend, we’re reflecting on the complicated history of our nation. Ours is a country built on stolen land, with enslaved labor, and rife with exploitation and inequality. But throughout our history, there have always been people who dreamed and worked for something better—for freedom. People like you!
Abortion Forward Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “Abortion Forward stands for reproductive justice, racial justice, and economic justice. Immigrant Justice is Reproductive Justice. We are working toward a future where we can all make decisions about our own bodies, safely care for our families, and be free from government-sanctioned violence including arrest, detainment, and deportation.
“The Trump Administration abused the law by trying to end birthright citizenship, and the five-justice majority on the US Supreme Court was right in stopping him. Abortion Forward condemns his racist regime in the strongest terms possible.
“Every person has the right to have children, not have children, and parent our children in a safe environment, regardless of immigration status or country of origin. Attacks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigrant communities are part of a decades-long history of harm and abuse of people of color. The U.S. has long criminalized non-white migration by enacting racist and exclusionary polices and by consistently detaining people from other countries. White supremacy has always relied on dehumanization and control over women of color.”
According to the Women’s Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights, “ICE is violating its own policy to keep parents and children together,” while “detaining pregnant and postpartum women and not providing adequate medical care for pregnant women with life-threatening conditions.” Further, ICE detention centers have a history of denying people reproductive health care, as well as sterilizing detainees without their knowledge and against their will. The government has no right to withhold reproductive health care from people in its custody.
Copeland continued: “We believe in a just, compassionate, and humane approach to immigration, one that welcomes immigrants with programs grounded in our communities and holds the federal government accountable for protecting the safety and dignity of all people. Immigrants are our friends, coworkers and neighbors. Yet, ICE and CBP continue to harm and jail people simply because of their country of origin. This is why we must cut funding for ICE and CBP, and instead invest our tax dollars in health care, education and other vital programs that benefit all of us.”
Your dreams, your hope, and your love is what still draws immigrants from all over the globe to seek refuge and freedom in the United States. The team at Abortion Forward is so proud to work side by side with you to build communities where everyone can not just survive, but thrive.
Dear friends,
Four years ago today, the Trump-picked majority in the US Supreme Court ended the federal protection of abortion rights made possible by Roe v. Wade.
What happened next? What’s happening now? Let’s discuss the state of abortion access in Ohio, how we got here, and how your support has been so very critical at every step along the way.
Thank you for being with us on this journey.
For abortion, forever,
Kellie Copeland and the entire team at Abortion Forward
The landmark 1973 Roe decision was deeply flawed but did provide a minimum level of assurance that abortion access would be available in some form. Roe was overturned when the Supreme Court issued the majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022. The national right to obtain an abortion was ended, and the decision-making power was given to each individual state.
In Ohio, that decision had already been made. In 2019, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill banning abortion in the sixth week of pregnancy, and the state Attorney General Dave Yost pushed for courts to immediately put that ban into effect on the same day Dobbs was published. Yost got his wish when a federal judge ruled that the six-week ban could go into effect that afternoon. For the next 82 days, Ohioans who needed abortion care, and who had the means, fled our state to get that care.
The clinic shutdowns made it crystal clear to abortion rights advocates that they needed to take the question to the voters directly. We knew that the majority of Ohioans supported abortion rights, but the anti-abortion majority in Ohio state legislature was gerrymandered into place. There was no way we could ever count on them to represent the will of the voters – especially after they had passed more than 30 restrictions on reproductive health care over the previous decade.
We quickly saw other states vote on abortion related measures. Kansas led the way defeating an anti-abortion ballot measure that would have banned abortion in their state. In quick order, six other states followed, including Ohio’s northern neighbor Michigan, who protected abortion rights in their constitution in 2023 and Kentucky, who followed Kansas’ lead in defeating a measure to remove any constitutional protections for abortion.
Those wins confirmed what we already knew: winning in Ohio was possible.
Abortion-rights advocates in Ohio had been working on the problem for years. There had been a strong opposition to every bill attempting to ban or restrict abortion since the six-week ban was first introduced in 2011. A coalition was formed from nine organizations: Abortion Forward (formerly Pro-Choice Ohio), Abortion Fund of Ohio, ACLU of Ohio, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, Ohio Women’s Alliance, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Preterm-Cleveland, and URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity.
Together, they formed Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights.
While the OURR coalition started collecting signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment for the November ballot, the anti-abortion state legislature was also hatching another plot. They put an August Special Election on the calendar with one question: should Ohio require that any constitutional amendment need 60% of the vote to pass. This was a threat to more than just abortion rights, and a massive swell of opposition to this special election came from Ohioans working in organized labor, education, environmentalists, healthcare advocates, supporters of voting rights, etc.
Together, they defeated the August ballot issue. That cleared the way for the big vote in November.
Abortion opponents inside all three branches of Ohio government conspired to work against our campaign. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose put intentionally misleading language on the ballot to try to confuse voters about how the constitutional amendment would protect reproductive freedom. The anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld LaRose’s trickery. AG Yost stuck his nose back into the debate, misusing his office to publish a 13-page personal opinion on the abortion amendment. Gov. DeWine made TV commercials opposing the issue.
What the politicians in the Ohio Statehouse forgot was the simple fact that Ohioans want abortion to be legal and accessible.
The November vote was 57%-43% in favor of protect abortion rights! The Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment was added as Article 1, Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution.
Today, there are FOURTEEN abortion clinics serving patients across Ohio, with telemedicine options for patients who need it. Five abortion funds offer direct financial assistance or practical support for people who need a little help obtaining abortion care. The patients they serve mostly come from Ohio, but many people travel to the Buckeye State from other areas, especially if they live in one of the 13 states that currently bans or restricts abortion for them.
The Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment made all of that care possible, but it’s important to be clear about what the change Ohio Constitution does and does not do.
The amendment established an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion. That opening line gives abortion rights advocates the ability to challenge any abortion restriction in court, backed by the full weight of the state constitution… but that’s not the same as instantly changing the law.
Each law restricting abortion must be challenged individually:
In the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives, unfortunately, opposition to abortion rights is a never-ending plague. Despite the protection in the state constitution, there are ELEVEN bills from politicians trying to find a way to restrict abortion today. These join a raft of other bills and budget amendments that have popped up to attack the transgender community, deny Ohioans full access to the ballot box, strip low-income people from Medicaid, and other horrid human rights violations.
With respect to abortion rights, the attacks come in four gross flavors of state legislation:
Leading the opposition in the halls of the Ohio Statehouse, Abortion Forward brings expert policy analysis, coordinates witnesses for committee hearings, and educates the media on the harm of restrictions and the benefits when everyone can get the care they need.
The path to lasting victory is found in the work done to reduce and eliminate stigma around abortion. Opponents of abortion rights find themselves abandoned when more and more people see that abortion is healthcare. People who have had an abortion have been coming forward to talk about their experiences, and their stories have made all the difference in the world. The biggest impact in the debate happens when abortion patients speak to their families, to their communities, to policymakers, and even step up to the microphone and speak to the media. That is how we won in Ohio in 2023, and how we can continue to win in the future.
Projects like Patients to Advocates bring trainings and resources to storytellers to make this all possible.
Voting will always be important in protecting abortion rights. On the 2026 Ohio ballot, three key statewide races are critical to watch:
Trump’s administration is packed with anti-abortion extremists, and the most visible attempt to interfere with abortion access has been seen in efforts by the FDA to stop Americans from accessing medication abortion through telemedicine and by mail.
See, I told you your support was critical. You’ve been standing with us at every step. Whether you’ve signed the petition in 2023 or even collected signatures; if you’ve attended a rally, emailed your lawmakers, or testified in person; if you’ve donated to make this work possible… every effort counts.
On behalf of every abortion patient relying on these legal protections to be able to access care, we’re so very grateful to you for your work.
