“We Wont Go Back Rally” at the Ohio Statehouse
Posted by Diana
October 2, 2013
Today in Columbus Ohio at 11:30am, women and men from across the state will meet at the Statehouse to hold a rally. The “We Won’t Go Back Rally” is a speakout against “all the extreme attacks on women’s health” that have been happening in Ohio.
For those of you who don’t know, the budget that was passed this summer was a major blow to reproductive rights. The anti-choice provisions which were sneaked into the budget include defunding Planned Parenthood, directing money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to Crisis Pregnancy Centers, (Crisis Pregnancy Centers are notoriously coercive ) and forcing doctors to lie to their patients about abortion. So far an abortion clinic in Toledo has already been forced to close.
So today, as the Ohio legislature comes back in session, activists, their allies and friends will gather in front of the statehouse and let the lawmakers know that we are fed up. This writer is fed up too, and mad as hell, but unfortunately I will have to take it because our votes are all but irrelevant thanks to gerrymandering.
This rally has been a long time coming. Unlike the state of Texas which had recognizable heroines like Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte leading the fight against attacks on reproductive health, Ohio hasn’t had any public heroines. But we do have the Ohio Reproductive Justice Task Force, Save Choice Ohio, The Ohio Social Justice Coalition and Stand with Ohio Women – all organizations that formed to battle the ridiculous discriminatory policies that are being passed in my beloved state.
From the very first meeting of a few dedicated activists, this grassroots organizing has grown to include people from Cincinnati, Akron, Cleveland and other areas around Columbus. Even though the individual groups may have separate agendas, there is one thing they all agree on, the attacks on reproductive health must stop. Haley Swenson of ISO-Columbus and one of the organizer’s of the rally agrees saying, “as long as we all oppose the budget, we all think John Kasich is an asshole, that’s alright with me.” By signing this budget, John Kasich proved that attacks on reproductive rights are his personal mission. In addition, in 2006 he had this to say about the 1995 government shutdown: “I look back (on the 1995 shutdown) and think that it was one of the greatest moments of my career.”
So here we are in 2013, fighting for our rights as human beings against the backdrop of another government shutdown. Join us in front of the state house today and let’s make these anti-choice policies history.
Here is all the info you need on the We Wont Go Back Rally
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