How to Protect Abortion Rights in Ohio

by Havann Brown

*Image obtained from Google

Today, abortion is still legal everywhere in the United States. However, it appears that may not be true for long.

The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision recognizing the right to abortion, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision reaffirming the right, according to an initial leaked draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

The immediate impact of the drafted ruling would be to end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide whether to restrict or ban abortion. It’s unclear if there have been changes to the draft, but the court’s holding will not be final until it is published, likely in the next two months.

The overturning of Roe would almost immediately lead to stricter limits on abortion access in the South and Midwest, with about half of the states set to impose broad abortion bans immediately. 

In Ohio, abortion rights would likely be eliminated if Roe were overturned. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, states surrounding Ohio are already “hostile” toward abortion services. As a result, Ohioans seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy may be forced to travel to Illinois, New York, or Maryland, where laws are in place protecting it.

Additionally, Ohio’s state legislators have in recent years attempted to restrict access to abortions with a multitude of bills (bans on telemedicine abortions, fetal remains bills, etc.), and should Roe fall, they are poised to pass total abortion bans — for example, a “trigger law” that would go into effect without Roe’s protection and punish any doctor who performs the procedure with a fourth-degree felony.

Actions you can take to protect reproductive freedom:

1. Support Abortion Funds. When you support abortion funds, your money goes directly to help patients and people on the ground who work to provide access to abortion. Visit the National Network of Abortion Funds website to connect with your local abortion fund and make a donation.

2. Support Reproductive Justice Organizations. Reproductive Justice means the human right to decide when and whether to have children, and the right to raise your family in a safe, healthy environment. SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective is the largest national multi-ethnic reproductive justice collective. We Testify amplifies the stories of people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and others who’ve had abortions.

3. Volunteer for Planned Parenthood. The organization has multiple volunteer opportunities, from action councils to a generation access program, which allows young leaders to self-organize in their communities, fight against abortion stigma, mobilize advocates and voters, and educate their peers about sexual and reproductive health.

4. Contact your Representatives. Write letters, send emails, and call your elected representatives when legislation arises that affects reproductive rights. Gov. Mike DeWine has signed bills to ban abortion as early as six weeks gestation, to require aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated, to prevent medication abortions via telemedicine, and to add rules that could shutter abortion clinics.

5. Rally for Abortion Access. We must stand together to send a strong message that abortion access must be protected and supported. It is necessary that we act now, all across the country, not only to demonstrate that people support abortion access, but to show that we won’t back down. Click here to find marches near you.

Beyond a Seat at the Table: A Call for Women Leaders

By Jamie Brian

If you were to walk into a meeting of business executives, law firm partners, or medical school professors, there’s a good chance that you would see fewer women than men at the table.

While women make up 50.8 percent of the United States population, the percentage of women in leadership roles significantly lags men in multiple job sectors. For example, a 2021 report from the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) found that only 8.2 percent of Fortune 500 company CEOs are women.

In the legal profession, women make up 45 percent of law associates but only 19 percent of equity partners (lawyers who own a law firm). In Congress, these numbers are even less: of the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, just 121 are held by women. In fact, since the U.S. House of Representatives’ founding in 1789, women have held just 3.3 percent of seats. And in the medical profession, only 25 percent of medical school professors are women.

These statistics don’t encompass the entire landscape of American professions, but they do provide us with a snapshot of who holds power in our institutions. Leaders shape the future; they give voice to areas of concern and make decisions that affect all of us. In many job sectors, those powerful voices are overwhelmingly the voices of men.

This is a problem because the people in power do not reflect the demographics of the communities they serve. Male voices can’t speak for female voices because they have not had the same lived experiences as women. We are the only people who can write our own stories.

In the past decades, women have trail-brazed their way into careers that traditionally have been held by men, such as STEM careers, the military, and government. However, it’s no longer enough for women to just have a seat at the table: we need more women in leadership roles.

There’s a popular quote that states, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Women make up half of the U.S. population, but we are not seen in 50 percent of leadership roles.

This does not mean that we are incapable of being good leaders. Harvard Business Review proved this in a 2019 study that analyzed thousands of employees’ reviews of their male and female supervisors. Women outscored men in taking initiative, high integrity and honesty, motivating and inspiring others, and resilience.

These are the qualities that would make a great leader. We need more people in power who inspire others and act with integrity.

Maybe it’s our resilience that sets us apart from male leaders. Women know what it’s like to be undervalued, underrepresented, and underestimated. But despite this adversity, we keep pushing forward because we believe in our own strength.

We can become the generation that bridges the gap in gendered leadership roles. In the process, we can use our voices to uplift others