Nearly 200 people marched against a possible abortion ban in Mason on Saturday.
The March for Reproductive Freedom was held in Warren County, a suburban county between Dayton and Cincinnati which has become a battleground in the abortion wars.
Lebanon City Council passed an ordinance declaring the city of 20,000 a "sanctuary city for the unborn" in May. The ordinance makes it illegal to provide an abortion, aid an abortion, provide money or transportation for an abortion or provide instructions for an abortion within city limits.
The move – which some council members compared to saving babies from an Old Testament demon in texts – caused several shakeups in a Lebanon downtown business organization and inspired an unusually large slate of city council candidates in the city's November council election.
More: "Moloch is angry.' The council texts behind Lebanon's abortion ban
Some Mason City Council members have expressed interest in passing a similar ordinance.
In a public display of opposition to such a ban in Mason, about 170 people marched from Pine Hill Lakes Park down Main Street and ended at the steps of the Mason Municipal Center.
Marchers held signs that said "Bans off our bodies" and" Stop the war on women." One sign said, "Welcome to Ohio, where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman doesn’t."
Passing cars honked as the marchers chanted “Roe is the floor. We demand more.” and “Whose city? Our city.” Some Main Street business owners came out to express support. Some people glared at the marchers from their front doors.
Mason resident Courtney Tong, 44, said she came out to march because she believes "reproductive rights are essential," but that she doesn't think the march will change council members’ minds.
“They have no interest in the will of the people,” she said.
The march was organized by the Planned Parenthood Action Council of Warren County.
“We’re just a bunch of moms who are tired of this," Group member Veronica Strevel said at the march.
Four women spoke at the steps of the municipal center.
Nikki Foster, who ran for the District 1 congressional seat in 2020, shared her personal experience suffering two miscarriages before she had her second child.
After her first miscarriage, she took misoprostol on the advice of her doctor to hurry the miscarriage through so she could keep trying for a second child, Foster said.
“Now imagine a man on Mason City Council has decided that he knows better than you and your doctor. Imagine he’s decided you shouldn’t have access to misoprostol,” she said.
Beth Goldenfield, chair of the Warren County Democratic Party, Taylor Albright, leader of the Warren County Action Council and Leslie Nahigyan, a Lebanon City Council candidate, also spoke.
Students for Life organized a counter-protest in Cincinnati. Kristi Hamrick, chief media strategist for Students for Life, told The Enquirer they held counter-protests in more than 20 cities on Saturday.
”These women’s marches have lost their vision,” Hamrick said. “It’s an injustice to pretend all women need is abortion. Women need education, opportunities, access to economic development. We wanted to give pro-life women a voice.”
Mason City Council members hope to have a sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance on the agenda for council’s next meeting on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.
The council has not drafted its own legislation but has received a fact sheet and ordinance draft from Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, an initiative by Right to Life of East Texas.
The ordinance is more specific than the legislation passed in Lebanon. If passed, it would add an abortion section to the Mason city code.
At a council meeting on Sept. 27, Mayor Kathy Grossmann said if the ordinance were to pass, "the status quo does not change in terms of abortion accessibility."
There are no abortion clinics in Mason.
The ordinance draft does not include any penalties to a person seeking an abortion but does state that anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion will be considered a criminal and felon punishable with up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.
The ordinance would also make it illegal for people to possess or distribute “abortion-inducing drugs ”in the city of Mason, including misoprostol and mifepristone.
The draft includes exceptions for "accidental miscarriages," and ectopic pregnancies.
The draft is severable, meaning that if one part of the ordinance is found unconstitutional, the rest can remain legal. There is also an emergency clause. Five council members would have to vote for the ordinance to pass it as an emergency, according to the city charter.
Ohio preparing for an overturn of Roe v. Wade
An Ohio Senate bill that would ban abortions in Ohio if the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its opinion on Roe v. Wade had its first hearing on Sept. 29. Similar language is already on the books in 11 states.
The proposed law would make performing abortions a fourth-degree felony. Doctors who are arrested or sued under the law could avoid penalties if they prove they performed the abortion to save the patient's life.
Erin Glynn is the watchdog reporter for Butler, Warren and Clermont counties through the Report For America program. The Enquirer needs local donors to help fund her grant-funded position. If you want to support Glynn's work, you can donate to her Report For America position at this website or email her editor Carl Weiser at [email protected] to find out how you can help fund her work.
Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @ee_glynn.
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