With President-elect Donald Trump set to be inaugurated as the 47th president of the U.S. Jan. 20, reproductive health advocates are concerned about what a second Trump presidency could mean for the state of abortion access nationwide and in individual states.
Reproductive health care access in Ohio is an ever-changing issue, even with the passage of the Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety, or Issue 1, in November 2023, which amended the Ohio Constitution to allow state residents to make their own “reproductive decisions.”
As of Jan. 3, the Guttmacher Institute declared Ohio as a state with “some restrictions/protections” regarding abortion policies after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The ACLU published an article stating that during Trump’s presidency, he promised to help overturn Roe v. Wade and how “that decision resulted in a devastating civil liberties and public health crisis.”
Also according to the ACLU, 14 states have since banned abortion, and other states have worked to criminalize abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion in Ohio is banned for people who are 20 weeks pregnant and later. Despite the passage of Issue 1, there have been proposed pieces of state legislation that would further restrict access to reproductive health care and abortion.
In April 2024, Rep. Josh Williams, a Republican representing Sylvania Township, proposed House Bill 475 to prohibit local governments from funding resources that assist in abortion access, according to a previous report by The Post.
According to Urban Institute, House Bill 15 would require pregnant people who want to have abortions to receive, view and hear ultrasounds. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio reported that HB 15, which was proposed by Rep. Jennifer Gross and Rep. Beth Lear, did not pass before the 135th General Assembly concluded. HB 475 also did not pass before the assembly’s conclusion.
In a conversation about HB 475 and the state of reproductive health access in Ohio, Mia Kim Sullivan, the executive director of Collective Power for Reproductive Justice, a nonprofit organization working to engage and support activists and leaders in reproductive justice since 1981, said state restrictions on abortion make pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous.
“Pregnancy and childbirth for so many people in the U.S. is completely safe if you have access to good prenatal care, if you have health insurance that covers your visits, if there’s a care provider nearby (and if) you can take work off to go, then it is pretty uneventful,” Sullivan said. “But the truth is access to health care here still depends so much on how much money you have and now where you live.”
Roe v. Wade, Sullivan said, “was a basic minimum guarantee” and “a floor to abortion access.” After Roe v. Wade was overturned, certain states began proposing legislation targeting abortion access, Sullivan said.
Others, such as students at Ohio University, are seeing similar patterns of legislation seeking to ban or heavily restrict access to reproductive health care and abortion. Maddie Saiter, a freshman studying marketing, said the restrictions are harmful, and she is concerned about the future of reproductive health access.
“I’m a firm believer that abortion is healthcare,” Saiter said. “When it comes to taking resources away from facilities and companies that might provide abortions, I think that’s very hurtful, especially for people who don’t have access already to safe sex or any forms of birth control.”
Similarly, Terah Severance, a freshman studying pre-early childhood education, said she believes taking away reproductive health and abortion resources has a ripple effect on other areas of people’s lives and other systems such as education.
“Especially in my field, I’m going to see a lot of people who don’t want to be involved with their children,” Severance said. “They are only having them because they were forced to have them.”
The future of abortion and reproductive health access in Ohio and around the country is pulled back and forth. As the Trump administration is preparing to transition into the White House, its influence on reproductive health may be seen soon.
“Abortion and reproductive rights and access can be definitely diminished,” Saiter said. “It’s kind of weird to see how easy it’s been to backtrack so far [and] I know everything goes back to Roe v. Wade for me with this. … It’s definitely frightening for me because I feel like reproductive rights affect me directly, so it’s scary to think about how easily my rights could be taken away.”
