Abortion-rights groups claim surge in support

Organizations such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio have seen a spike in donations and volunteers since President Donald Trump’s election.

But even with the outpouring of support for women’s rights, the organizations’ ability to fight several anti-abortion bills in the Ohio General Assembly still could be a tall order.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said of the support as abortion-rights advocates rallied Wednesday at the Statehouse.

“It started with the election, and people really dialed in in December when the (state’s) six-week ban was passed. Our e-mail lists blew up, our membership doubled. In January, people went to the marches, and the momentum has continued.

“The coalition has really become a movement again,” she said. “Yes, we’re under attack, but the movement has galvanized.”

The six-week ban was contained in the so-called Heartbeat Bill, which was vetoed by Gov. John Kasich. He signed a separate measure banning most abortions after 20 weeks.

Advocates recognize that they still face an uphill battle against Kasich and a GOP-controlled General Assembly overwhelmingly opposed to abortion.

Sen. Charleta B. Tavares, D-Columbus, told the crowd of about 200 it is critical that they help elect more lawmakers who share their views.

“When we are prochoice, we allow each woman to do what is in her and her family’s and her faith’s best interest,” Tavares said.

“It is not about what the men in the General Assembly, and some women, want for individuals. It’s about what Americans have said loud and clear — that women have the right to reproductive health and for choice in what happens to their body.”

The state’s leading anti-abortion group, Ohio Right to Life, is pushing a sweeping agenda for the twoyear legislative session, including six measures that anti-abortion leaders say would build on recent successes and continue their strategy of chipping away at abortion rights.

The 20-week ban passed in the legislature’s lame-duck session last year was the most recent of 18 abortion restrictions enacted since Kasich took office in 2011.

For abortionrights advocates, the immediate concerns are bills to prohibit the sale of or compensation for fetal tissue or remains, and to force women undergoing an abortion to choose whether fetal remains should be buried or cremated.

Both proposals, abortion-rights advocates argue, are unnecessary and designed to stigmatize abortions and intimidate women who seek them.

They also oppose further tax funding of crisis pregnancy centers supported by abortion opponents; such funding could be included in the two-year state budget.