The Fight is Far from Over
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The Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment has produced another victory for abortion rights as a Hamilton County judge issued a ruling that the six-week abortion ban is unconstitutional.
Passed as Issue 1 in the November 2023 general election, the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment enshrined reproductive healthcare, including abortion, into the state constitution. After more than 700,000 signatures from Ohio voters were submitted to qualify the ballot initiative for the 2023 General Election, the issue passed with 57% of the vote in November of last year.
Here’s a selection of media coverage from the ruling:
Kellie Copeland was interviewed by WCMH / NBC Channel 4:
The Toledo Blade reported on the ruling:
Kellie Copeland, executive director of the pro-abortion rights group Abortion Forward, praised the ruling: “This win means that tens of thousands of patients from the Buckeye State and surrounding communities can continue to access safe and legal abortion care from providers at nine clinics in Ohio,” she said. “The overwhelming decision by voters to enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution last November has paved the way for successful court challenges like the one we’ve won today. But the fight is far from over. Getting an abortion in Ohio is still needlessly difficult.”
Kellie Copeland was interviewed on WBNS / CBS Channel 10:
The Columbus Dispatch filed this report:
“This momentous win is due to the hard work of countless Ohioans who stood up and continue to stand up to protect abortion access in our state,” said Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward. “Now, voters have the opportunity to flip the Supreme Court to ensure our hard work last year continues to expand abortion access.”
“It’s an important ruling because it means tens of thousands of patients from the Buckeye State and surrounding communities can continue to access safe and legal abortion care,” Abortion Forward’s Kellie Copeland said. “However, we expect that our opponents will challenge this case and that it will end up before the State Supreme Court.”
Should we re-elect Congresswoman Emilia Sykes to represent us in Washington, or should we elect Kevin Coughlin? Here in the 13th Congressional District, we have an important choice to make. The answer is clear.
As an advocate for reproductive freedom and abortion access, I’ve dealt with both of them when they served in the Ohio Legislature. Congresswoman Emilia Sykes has always been driven to build a community where everyone can thrive, and her support for access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare have been central to her work. In sharp contrast, Coughlin demonstrated a shocking disregard for the well-being of his constituents as he voted for every restriction on abortion and reproductive healthcare, regardless of the harm he knew they would cause.
Coughlin is clearly aware that he is out of step with the values of the 13th Congressional District which overwhelming voted for Issue 1 last year. When asked where he stands on abortion now, he has been evasive, refusing to talk to reporters. But his endorsement by Ohio Right to Life indicates he had no problem privately promising them that he would continue his record of voting to restrict and ban access to abortion.
Congresswoman Emilia Sykes has always fought against extremists like Coughlin. Following the recent US Supreme Court ruling that failed to enforce federal law requiring that hospitals treat patients in emergency situations, Emilia Sykes led the fight to push back and introduced a resolution to reaffirm access to emergency abortion care for all Americans.
This is literally a matter of life or death for people facing serious pregnancy complications in states that have banned abortion, and Congresswoman Emilia Sykes has their backs.
Emilia Sykes trust us to make our own decisions about abortion. Coughlin doesn’t. In fact, he is so cowardly he won’t even be straight with voters when asked where he stands.
Abortion access remains in serious jeopardy. Project 2025 and other plans by anti-abortion extremists call for a national ban on abortion that would supersede the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
I’m voting for Emilia Sykes, because I know that every vote she casts in Congress is a vote for the well-being of everyone in the 13th Congressional District and America. I hope you will join me.
For abortion, forever,
Kellie Copeland (she/her)
Abortion Forward Executive Director and lifelong Summit County resident
Across the country, the movement to codify reproductive rights as law is gaining momentum. Here are 10 states with initiatives up for a vote this November:
The proposed legislation would ensure abortion access until viability and in instances necessary to protect the life, physical, or mental health of the patient.
Abortion is already legal at all stages in Colorado, and the legislation coming up for a vote would enshrine the right in the state constitution as well as requiring Medicaid and private health insurance to cover abortions.
The proposal would protect access until viability and when needed to protect a patient’s health. Parental notification would remain a requirement.
A broad reproductive freedom amendment has been offered that is inclusive of the right to abortion.
The ballot measure on offer would give the right to abortion until a fetus could survive outside the uterus without extraordinary measures. It would also allow late abortions if needed to protect the life, physical, or mental health of the patient.
A constitutional amendment has been proposed to protect access to abortions until viability.
2 initiatives on the ballot. One would enshrine access until viability (or later to protect health) in the state constitution. The other would write the current 12-week ban into the constitution with exceptions for rape, incest, and life-saving measures.
A potential constitutional amendment would ensure access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. It would also allow for later abortions to protect the health of the patient. It needs to be approved by voters twice, once in 2024, and again in 2026.
A proposed measure would bar the state government from denying legal rights based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare”. This document does NOT include the word abortion anywhere in it.
The proposed legislation would disallow abortion bans during the first trimester, only allow regulation of abortions in the second trimester in relation to the health of the mother, and only allow bans in the third trimester if exceptions are given for life-threatening situations.
Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered an excellent argument against the incredible damage that a second Trump administration could have on our nation’s reproductive health care police and abortion access in every state in America. This section represented the most in-depth and medically accurate discussion of abortion access ever delivered by any American nominee for president ever.
She said:
“Let’s understand how we got here. Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade, and they did exactly as he intended.
“Now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state. It provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception, even for rape and incest, which — understand what that means — a survivor of a crime, a violation to their body, does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That is immoral, and one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree.
“The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about ‘this is what people wanted.’? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage.
“Being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail. She’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12 or 13 year old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. They don’t want that.
“I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.
“But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand in this Project 2025, there would be a national abortion ban, a monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages. I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body, should not be made by the government.”
And she concluded:
“I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v Wade. And as you rightly mentioned, nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America. And I understand what has been happening under Donald Trump’s abortion bans. Couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments.
“What is happening in our country working people, working women who are working 1 or 2 jobs, who can barely afford childcare as it is, have to travel to another state to get on the plane, sitting next to strangers to go and get the health care she needs and barely can afford to do it. What you are putting her through is unconscionable.
“That the majority of Americans believe in a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. That is why in every state where this issue has been on the ballot in red and blue states, both the people of America have voted for freedom.”
