Amid patchwork of abortion enforcement in Ohio, advocates turn up the heat on local prosecutors
Republicans COLUMBUS — who control the Ohio legislature promise a near total abortion ban is coming to the state, though enforcement of it will be mostly left to city and county prosecutors many of whom have
— already pledged not to pursue abortion crimes.
This is creating a patchwork of differing abortion access and restrictions across Ohio.
Reproductive-rights advocates are planning a pressure campaign in the state’s more liberal communities, hoping to provide women and anyone who helps them get an abortion a degree of protection from state laws.
They are starting with Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack, a Democrat who has been silent on the matter of abortion prosecution, despite his colleagues in some other Ohio cities saying they have too many other crimes to worry about and view abortion restrictions as unjust, so they will not prosecute them.
The advocates are calling Tyack’s office. They plan protests. If he ultimately doesn’t respond, they may push for his resignation or defeat at the polls, said Eden McKissick-Hawley, a Columbus organizer who is coordinating the pressure campaign across different groups.
If they succeed in Central Ohio, the groups hope that their playbook can be used in other Ohio communities, such as Dayton and Toledo, McKissick-Hawley said.
“It’s not about his ability to keep these clinics open or not,” she said about Tyack. “It’s about his ability to say to his prosecutors, ‘This is going to be a misdemeanor and not a felony.’”
Currently, abortion is illegal as soon as a fetal heart tone can be detected, which is around six weeks — before many women know they are pregnant.
But other laws pending in the Ohio General Assembly could create the crime of criminal abortion and a Texas-style bill that would allow people to sue in civil court for a minimum of $10,000 anyone who performs, aids or abets in an abortion.
Such stricter abortion bans are likely coming to Ohio after the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned Roe v. Wade, which provided nearly 50 years of abortion rights, now leaving the matter of abortion laws to the states.
Reproductive advocates
The abortion advocates have consulted attorneys to learn their rights as they begin to protest. They have begun raising money for bail funds if they need to escalate pressure against Tyack, McKissick-Hawley said.
“I want Gary to feel as uncomfortable as that person who is going to feel behind bars,” if they’re arrested for violating an abortion law, she said. “If he is not with us, he is against us. And that could mean we have to show up at his church, because he has a theology degree and it’s unclear to me if he really believes in the separation of church and state. It’s unclear to me if he’s really a Democrat.”
Tyack, through an executive assistant, told cleveland. com/The Plain Dealer on Friday that it’s not appropriate to comment on his position on prosecuting Ohio’s abortion laws.
McKissick-Hawley said she and other have called Tyack’s office and his chief of staff numerous times, seeking clarity on his position on abortion prosecutions.
“The real enemy are the Republicans — Dave Yost (Ohio’s GOP attorney general who defended the so-called fetal “heartbeat” bill). And what a shame that I’m wasting a single ounce of energy on Gary Tyack,” she said.
After Franklin County, the groups hope to take their playbook to other parts of the state.
“If you’re a Democrat right now and you’re not jumping up and down, trying to show solidarity, trying to do any little thing in this deep moment of crisis, then I do not think you should have your office,” she said.
Columbus City Councilmember Liz Brown, a Democrat who sponsored several changes to the city’s ordinances after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, said that abortion-rights advocates need to continue the pressure campaign on Tyack and take it across the state.
“Zach Klein has done it,” Brown said about declining to prosecute abortion. “It is more important for Gary Tyack to do it. It’s an urgent issue for the half a million people with uteruses in our county.”
The patchwork
Although Tyack doesn’t think it’s appropriate to comment on abortion prosecutions, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decision, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein were part of a group of prosecutors nationwide who pledged to not go after people who seek or provide abortions.
Shortly after, Cleveland Chief Prosecutor Aqueelah Jordan and Law Director Mark Griffin also announced they will not prosecute or charge any abortion-related crimes.
Despite the promise of no prosecutions, people will not be allowed to flout the law in Cuyahoga County, Cleveland or Columbus. Doctors, for instance, can still be sanctioned by the State Medical Board of Ohio — and, if the Texas-style law passes, people can sue for aiding and abetting abortion.
Cuyahoga County and Cleveland and Columbus cities haven’t just stopped at abortion prosecutions, however.
Cleveland is making enforcement of abortion crimes by the police and
other city employees a last priority, considering the city’s limited resources.
Mayor Justin Bibb and City Council are looking to create a $100,000 “Reproductive Freedom Fund” to cover travel costs for city residents and employees seeking legal abortions in nearby states.
Cleveland’s human resources workers are exploring whether employee health plans can offer elective abortions if the employee seeks care outside Ohio.
In most cases, the city announced it won’t retain any information about a person’s pregnancy status — unless there’s a medical emergency, the patient has provided permission to share it, or the law requires disclosure.
In July, Columbus City Council passed three ordinances, including offering $1 million in grants to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and the Ohio Women’s Alliance to support costs associated with women leaving the state to have an abortion, such as transportation costs, lodging, lost wages and child care, said Brown, the councilmember.
Columbus has entered into a $26,500 contract with ProChoice Ohio, which will study crisis pregnancy centers, which try to talk women out of having abortions and are often located next to abortion clinics in Columbus. They will investigate whether the crisis pregnancy centers offer women medically accurate information, Brown said.
Similar to Cleveland, Columbus also is deprioritizing enforcement of laws that criminalize access to abortion. Brown said that the resolution puts into ordinance form what City Attorney Klein has already pledged.
“We can’t subvert Ohio law, we just can’t. But we can utilize the investigative time of our law enforcement on things that actually help Columbus residents, versus pregnancy outcomes, abortion crimes — all of that,” she said.
In Cincinnati, the City Council voted to allow employee health insurance to cover elective abortions, which had previously been prohibited.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval’s administration is working on a report exploring whether it can decriminalize abortion in the city.
“We are living in an Ohio where a radical majority in the Statehouse and then Dave Yost have put this six-week (”heartbeat”) ban in place for now,” she said. “Who knows what comes next? Because we’ve been betrayed by our government — and I’m not exaggerating — we do confront this patchwork reality in Ohio. And it is not good for women, and it is not good for people who need abortion. As a local elected official in just one piece of the state, I have to do what I can with the tools that I have.”