#Ohio: In an attempt to outlaw all abortions, House Bill 480 was introduced on November 2, 2021 to protect "unborn persons," making it the most extreme bill to move through a state's legislature in the recent string of bans popping up across the country. 
Other laws like Ohio’s new “Born-Alive Infant Protection Act” are also on the rise to further restrict #reproductiverights and spread “pro-life” ideologies.
On the other side of the aisle, a group of clinic escorts in Toledo work to protect patients and the freedom to access healthcare.
Learn more in our newly published article---> unicornriot.ninja/2022/64276/
Learn more in our newly published article---> unicornriot.ninja/2022/64276/
Ohio HB 480, also known as The 2363 Act, would adopt the same type of vigilantism as the #Texas 6-week abortion ban by authorizing private rights of action against people performing or inducing abortions and people who aid or abet abortions.
The bill’s primary sponsors are State Representatives Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) and Thomas Hall (R-Madison Twp.) They named the bill “in honor of the 2,363 children who are lost every day in our country due to the violence of abortion.”
Coincidentally, the preservation of life and the protection of pregnant people are also cornerstones of the pro-choice movement. “All deserve to make their own reproductive choices, without jeopardizing their health or future . . ." - Abortion fund Women Have Options Ohio (WHO-O)
" . . . Ohioans forgo food, risk eviction, and pawn their possessions as they attempt to raise money for an abortion. Some are forced to continue the pregnancy, abandon their education, and stay trapped in poverty.” - WHO-O
Ohio has a population of more than 11.6 million people, yet there are only nine abortion clinics in the state, with six that are full-service clinics. In Toledo, OH, where over 270,000 people live, there is one abortion clinic—Capital Care.
For 7+ years, Kristen Hady has run the clinic’s escort group, which takes on the responsibility of escorting patients in and out of the clinic. The group also tries “to show the public what it’s like outside of abortion clinics and the harassment that patients have to deal with.”
In addition to the daily harassment the clinic and their patients face, the anti-choice protesters occasionally take escalated actions. On October 28, 2021, the clinic’s exterior electrical box was set on fire. The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department investigation ruled it arson.
“Like any other clinic in the country, it definitely has felt like things have escalated for us in the last couple years." - Kristen Hady. Pictured is the burnt electrical box outside the clinic.
On December 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments stemming from a lawsuit against the state of #Mississippi concerning whether all pre-viability prohibitions on abortion are unconstitutional, therefore putting Roe v. Wade at risk.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights and their colleagues to stop a 15-week abortion ban that the Mississippi Legislature passed in March 2018.
As the only pre-viability ban in effect in the country, #Texas’ 6-week #abortion ban has essentially prevented people from getting any abortions in the state since September 2021. Before the law went into effect, there were 12+ pre-enforcement challenges brought against it.
The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to step in and block the law three times, yet it chose not to. The most recent decision not to block it happened nine days after the December 2021 Mississippi hearing.
Although the court sided with the state in a majority rule, they also decided that abortion providers had the right to challenge the law in federal court.
On January 3, 2021, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced it will hear oral arguments about Texas’ 6-week ban on January 7. Later that day, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed documents to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The @ACLU asked the U.S. Supreme Court to “urgently step in to prevent the Fifth Circuit from needlessly delaying our lawsuit and compounding the harm this ban has already inflicted on Texans.”
@ACLU Another 6-week abortion ban is in the works in Florida. At the end of September 2021, Republican state Rep. Webster Barnaby proposed an identical bill to Texas’ 6-week ban called the “Florida Heartbeat Act.”
There are many states with restrictions currently, and more bills are expected to be introduced. Only 18 states will have abortion protections if Roe v. Wade is weakened or overturned.
Lead escort at Capital Care in Toledo, Kristen Hady, believes that the many restrictions and bans on abortion, including Ohio HB 480, will “serve as a way to galvanize so many people, and honestly I hope radicalize a lot of people.”
“Going to a rally is bare minimum. We need people on the ground. We need people showing up at the State House when there’s an action and they’re in session. We need people showing up with more direct actions and getting involved in a much larger level." - Kristen Hady
Make sure to read our article to learn even more about the current status of reproductive rights in the U.S.: unicornriot.ninja/2022/64276/
For a deep look into the past & present of abortion and healthcare, check out our article from October 2021: unicornriot.ninja/2021/abortion-…
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