OHIO – This week the ACLU of Ohio placed a series of billboards across the state with one simple message: Abortion is still legal in Ohio. These ten billboards will appear in the following eight cities for the next six weeks: Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Toledo, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Wheeling.
“One of the many unfortunate outcomes of anti-choice lawmakers’ vendetta against abortion access, abortion healthcare, and abortion education, is public confusion about what is legal. After the near-total abortion bill was signed into law in April of 2019 the misinformation spread like wildfire. The message that the ACLU and its partners wish to send with these billboards is that abortion is still legal in Ohio – and in all fifty states. Ohio clinics remain open and services are available to individuals in need of abortion and other reproductive healthcare,” said Jocelyn Rosnick, Policy Director for the ACLU of Ohio.
The ACLU, ACLU of Ohio, Preterm-Cleveland, and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in May 2019 challenging Senate Bill 23, a law banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. In July 2019, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to block the law from taking effect as litigation proceeds. On August 20, the plaintiffs filed a motion for permanent relief to prevent the extreme abortion ban from taking effect in the future. The ACLU of Ohio and others await a decision from a judge.
“We hope these billboards will serve as a reminder to Ohioans, and people in bordering states, that abortion remains legal and accessible – despite what special interest groups and some politicians would have you believe,” concluded Rosnick.
Featured on the billboards is a website, AbortionIsLegalInOhio.com, a digital hub with information in both English and Spanish about the existing clinics, how to access financial support, and the latest updates on the lawsuit challenging SB 23. This is a coalition site managed by Preterm-Cleveland, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, URGE, Women Have Options, Restoring Our own Through Transformation, and the ACLU.
