A Springfield city spokesperson and the Urbana mayor’s office both confirmed last week that no resolutions in regard the state’s abortion law enforcement are in the works.
Dayton City Commission on June 29 approved an informal resolution declaring that the city will not prioritize enforcement of state abortion laws.
Dayton prosecutors and police investigators may be called upon to enforce state laws criminalizing abortion, but the city is “deprioritizing” enforcement of these laws to ensure its resources are put toward activities that improve citizens’ lives, the measure states.
Criminalizing women’s reproductive rights will alienate and harm large segments of the community, particularly low-income women of color, the resolution states.
Springfield NAACP president Denise Williams agrees that the statewide criminalization of abortion will have an impact on women in Springfield and beyond, particularly low-income women.
“I sympathize with [city leaders], because it’s a catch-22 for them,” she said. “But it’s an individual choice, and this affects poor Black women. They’d have to travel, they’d have to pay for a doctor. It’s just too much.”
Williams also said Black women in the state also have a higher maternal morbidity rate than white people in the state. Nationally, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Any local resolution in regard to enforcement – whether to prioritize it or not – would not come from county leadership, Clark County commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said. County commissions do not have the authority to enact legislation.
“We are bound by the Ohio Revised Code and act as an administrator of state laws enacted by the state legislature,” she said.
About 20,605 abortions were performed in Ohio in 2020, and about 38% involved pregnancies of more than nine weeks, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
In 2020, 198 Clark County residents and 30 Champaign County residents had induced abortions. Neither county is home to clinics where abortions are performed.
