Local activists urge Athens City Council to support abortion rights

Read time: About 4.5 minutes

Updated to reflect the resolution passing.

Athens City Council discussed a proposal from a local activist group to protect abortion rights at a Nov. 14 committee meeting. 

Athenians for Bodily Autonomy modeled its proposal on an ordinance Columbus City Council passed on July 25. If adopted as originally drafted, it would bar the city of Athens from using city resources to support the investigation or prosecution of residents for seeking or having an abortion, or to enforce bans on abortion. 

The Committee of the Whole, consisting of all Athens City Council members, decided to move forward with the proposal drafted by ABA as a resolution rather than as an ordinance. A resolution would “make a statement of our beliefs,” rather than implement concrete budgetary restrictions, said at-large council member Sarah Grace. 

Grace said this change was necessary because council does not generally stipulate use of funding by the city administration and police department. Some meeting attendees, such as Athens resident Loraine McCosker, urged the council to take more “substantial” action.

The resolution passed on Nov. 21 after Athens City Council worked with ABA to update the draft.

Under current Ohio law, abortion is legal up to the 22nd week of pregnancy. 

The proposal states that pursuing allegations or charges relating to pregnancy outcomes, such as abortion, should be the lowest priority for enforcement, city resources and personnel. 

Council member Ben Ziff (At Large) said he is “100% behind” ABA’s proposal.

“If we’re able to move [the resolution] through, we can ensure that we help keep people safe,” Ziff said.

Ziff added he did not expect the proposed resolution to meet with any resistance.

Council member Micah McCarey (At Large) was absent at the committee meeting and did not respond to a previous request for comment. City Council President Chris Knisely declined to comment, adding that she wanted to hear further discussion first. 

ABA first brought its proposal to council at its Aug. 1 meeting. They spoke to council again on Oct. 17, after sending their proposal to city council members, Mayor Steve Patterson and city Law Director Lisa Eliason. 

“I’m exhausted with having to prove myself to the people who make decisions for me about my body. I’m exhausted with having to worry about the mental and physical safety of my friends and family,” said Jenna Keiffer, an employee of The Government Channel, at the October council meeting. 

At least seven other municipalities in Ohio have passed similar ordinances, Louise Stewart told council at the Oct. 17 meeting. (Policymakers have passed similar resolutions in Dayton, Lakewood, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Worthington, Toledo and Columbus.)

“I really appreciate all the hard work that ABA’s already put into coming up with the draft ordinance,” Ziff said. “I love when we get that kind of civic engagement trying to help us help the community.”

For ABA’s proposed ordinance to move forward, a city council member will need to propose an ordinance or resolution to the full council, according to Eliason.

Stewart said ABA will determine its next steps based on the results of the committee meeting. 

Local activism

ABA’s draft ordinance proposal was just one aspect of its work in recent months. ABA raises awareness of and engages in activism to support abortion rights and trans rights, with a focus on local, state and federal policy.

The group formed in May 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“When the supreme court and the state legislators make these huge changes, they just wave their pens and change our lives,” said Stewart, an ABA founder.

Last month, the group held a protest of Ohio Senate Bill 23, which prohibits abortion if “there is a detectable fetal heartbeat.” Abortion rights activists oppose the policy, in part because many are unaware of their pregnancy at six weeks, when embryonic cardiac activity can be detected.

The legislature passed the bill in June. Last month, the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the bill. The injunction extended an earlier temporary restraining order sought by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Ohio.

ABA has also taken other actions locally, sending letters to the county sheriff’s office and prosecutor’s office asking that the offices commit not to use their resources to pursue abortion-related cases.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office may have little room for recourse should local prosecutors decline to prosecute abortion-related cases.

Neither Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith nor Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn recalled seeing the group’s letters, and neither would comment on the hypothetical enforcement and prosecution of abortion-related cases. 

“We look at all the cases based on the facts and circumstances and what is just, and what is right and what is best for the community,” Blackburn said.

Although no such cases have arisen in Ohio, women in Nebraska and Texas have been arrested under suspicion of violating their states’ abortion laws. National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a reproductive rights organization, has documented 1,331 pregnancy-related arrests or detentions between 2006 and 2020. 

Beyond abortion rights

ABA has also emphasized the rights of transgender people under the umbrella of bodily autonomy.

Group members have voiced opposition to Ohio House Bill 151, which includes a mandate to separate competing sports teams by biological sex. If the biological sex of an individual is disputed, athletes may be subject to inspection of “internal and external reproductive anatomy.” according to the bill.

“From abortion bans and bills attacking the rights of our transgender neighbors, to bills limiting the right to protest and banning critical race theory, our rights are under attack now more than ever,” ABA member Ari Faber said at an Oct. 9 protest.

The group also has promoted a boycott of Artifacts Gallery, a clothing and home goods store at 2 W. State St. in Athens. A pamphlet ABA distributed at its Oct. 9 protest alleges that owner Amy Mangano has made public statements deriding trans women and describing trans women as men. At press time, the door to Artifacts displayed a poster from the Women’s Declaration International, formerly the Women’s Human Rights Campaign, a United Kingdom-founded advocacy group that asserts “sex-based rights” and has been called “anti-trans,” and trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

Additional reporting by Dani Kington and Keri Johnson.