Ohio activists rally over weekend to push for ballot initiative
Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights canvasses Cleveland neighborhood in anticipation of Issue 1 vote in November
In Ohio over the weekend, activists organized throughout the state to rally in support of Issue 1, a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
On Saturday, I attended a meeting of the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Doctors gathered there to plan a day to canvass all the houses within walking distance of the facility. They have been one of the most essential and influential groups, increasing support for the initiative.
During the meeting, they distributed T-shirts and stickers to supporters. Two women acted out two mock situations doctors would encounter when knocking on doors. The first was one in which they met someone who supported their efforts. The second scenario was one in which a person was antiabortion. The purpose was to prepare people without an activist background for what they would see and experience partaking in organized politics.
Later, an organization leader described how MiniVAN worked. It’s an app that has lists of registered voters. It’s downloaded on activists’ phones, and administrators can assign volunteers chunks of houses that you can go to and input people’s responses to your questions in a database, which helps inform subsequent attempts to reach out to people since you can find out how they feel about an issue.
Afterward, I followed three doctors as they visited and spoke to nearby residents about the Issue that will be put before Ohio voters on Nov. 7.
During all this, I had the chance to speak to two people. The first was Lauren Beene, a pediatrician who is the group's executive director. She said the antiabortion movement has thrown a few curveballs at them in the last few months. Republicans had sought to raise the threshold of voter support to pass an amendment to 60 percent. That failed. Then Ohio’s Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, rewrote the ballot initiative language.
“What's actually on the ballot is different from what people are actually voting on as the amendment,” Beene said. “And so the language of that was just filled with propaganda is really absurd. And so that's just one of the many, many kinds of curveballs. We don't think that that's gonna have a negative impact on us.”
Should the group be successful, they intend to remain active in lobbying for things beneficial to reproductive rights.
Saturday’s event was the first of its kind. It took place in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus. From what I saw, the reaction to doctors in medical overcoats seemed to be broadly supportive. People trust doctors. Having them as emissaries of the abortion rights movement was the most effective method I’ve seen thus far in rallying support for the pro-choice side.
After the day’s events, many doctors were told to see a theatrical production that depicted a situation that would create support for abortion access. And on Sunday, there was a massive rally organized by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights.
Another person I spoke to was Laurie Albright, a church member. They have organized door-to-door efforts as well.
“This is just a community that is single-minded in supporting people who are pregnant, just whatever options they need of people who want to become pregnant or people who need help with anything related to this,” Albright said.