Columbus — Monday, five billboards went up in Columbus and Cleveland calling attention to efforts by Ohio lawmakers to criminalize and punish women and doctors for seeking or performing abortion. The billboards direct Ohioans to visit http://AbortionWithoutPunishment.org/Ohio
Map of billboard locations.
Photos of two Columbus billboards:
Spring St. and 5th St.
State St. and High St.
The campaign comes as the future of legal abortion across the country remains at unprecedented risk with Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court. Should the new Court gut or seriously weaken Roe v. Wade, some lawmakers—including those in Ohio—may double down on their efforts to outlaw or severely restrict abortion.
Earlier this year, anti-abortion politicians in Ohio introduced House Bill 565, which would criminalize women and doctors for having or performing an abortion and made abortion a crime punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.
“If Roe v. Wade is overturned or gutted, Ohio’s legislature would have a clear path to criminalize women and doctors,” said Kellie Copeland, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio and one of the campaign sponsors. “We launched this campaign to ensure the people of Ohio know that our lawmakers are already considering dangerous legislation that would ban abortion and severely punish women and doctors. This punishment could even impose the death penalty for having or providing an abortion.”
The digital billboards, sponsored by NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation and the National Institute for Reproductive Health, all read “Life in Prison or Death Penalty for an Abortion? That’s What State Legislators are Proposing for Ohio Women” and will remain up through mid-November.
If anti-abortion politicians in Ohio have their way, more women could also be prosecuted and punished if they decide to end their pregnancy on their own—either out of choice or necessity.
“Anti-abortion politicians in Ohio and across this country have been standing in the way of safe, effective, and affordable methods of abortion for far too long. This attempt to criminalize abortion would have a disastrous impact, depriving women of care and disproportionately affecting people of color, low-income individuals, and underserved communities,” said Andrea Miller, President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health and NIRH Action Fund. “We must protect abortion access and ensure that however a person chooses to end a pregnancy, they should able to do so safely, effectively, and with dignity, and without fear of arrest, jail or the death penalty.”
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NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation is committed to work to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding a full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Our team engages trainings, educational forums, and workshops to organize Ohioans to advocate for reproductive rights in their communities.
The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) builds power at the state and local levels to change public policy, galvanize public support, and normalize women’s decisions about abortion and contraception. Using a partnership model, NIRH provides state and local advocates with strategic guidance, hands-on support, and funding to create national change from the ground up. In 2018, NIRH is working with state and local advocates to advance reproductive freedom in 23 states; to date, NIRH has partnered with more than 150 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in 39 states and 56 localities across the country.