ASHLAND — A group of mostly women and some men showed up Saturday at the corner of Main and Cottage streets to demonstrate opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, according to organizers.
The ruling came June 24, which allowed state legislatures to establish their own rules on abortions. But Saturday’s demonstration was spurred by recent news surrounding a 10-year-old girl’s abortion.
Columbus police have charged Gerson Fuentes, 27, with rape. Authorities have said the rape led to the impregnation of a 10-year-old girl, who traveled to Indianapolis to terminate the pregnancy.
According to news reports, the Indiana doctor who performed the procedure said the girl received a referral from a doctor in Ohio who felt they could not perform the procedure in the state.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has disputed that.
“Ohio’s heartbeat law has a medical emergency exception,” Yost said in published reports, adding that the girl did not have to leave Ohio to find treatment.
Ohio’s laws on abortions do not allow the procedure when there is cardiac activity detected in the fetus, which typically happens around six weeks of pregnancy. According to the Indiana doctor, the 10-year-old girl was six weeks, three days pregnant.
Saturday’s organizer, Sonya Javens, 25, of Ashland said the 10-year-old’s story “set a fire” in her.
“I don’t believe in forced motherhood,” she said.
Though rare, news of the young girl’s abortion has become a flashpoint nationally in the debate surrounding abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A report from the Ohio Department of Health shows the number of minors receiving abortions in Ohio has decreased since 2010.
In 2020, 52 girls under the age of 15 received an abortion, while 469 people age 15 to 17 got one, for a total of 521 minors. In 2010, there were a combined total of 1,682 abortions provided to minors in Ohio.
There were 20,605 total abortions provided in 2020, according to the state health department. The highest share of abortions in Ohio in 2020 involved people aged 25 to 29, or 30% of the total.
Javens estimated Saturday’s crowd swelled to around 40 as people came and went during the three-hour demonstration. She said she hopes the event leads more people to become educated on the issue.
“There’s the stigma that women get abortions as a way to get our of their actions. It’s absurd,” she said.
Heather Sample, of Ashland, said the government should make exceptions for certain situations such as rape, incest, deformities and other health reasons.
“But the main thing is the government shouldn’t be in control of what happens in your body … I wish the government would stop overstepping and understand it’s a woman’s choice what she does with her body,” she said.
The signs present at Saturday’s rally seemed to reflect her sentiment. Those pictured read “My body, my choice,” “Abortion is healthcare” and “I’ve had crunch wraps more supreme than this court,” among others with more edgy verbiage.
“There was a lot of energy — these people were really into this. It meant something,” Sample said.
One of those signs was held by Drew Burge, the lone Democrat running for state House District 67. The district envelopes all of Ashland County and parts of Medina County.
Tamie Wilson, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House to represent Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, also showed up to the demonstration. The 4th Congressional District district spans sections of the northeast, central, and southwest areas of the state.
Both candidates spoke during the rally in support of the demonstrators’ message, Sample said.
Sample also hoped Saturday’s event might prompt Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell to commit to not prosecuting abortions should they happen in Ashland County.
Around 60 prosecutors around the country, including one city attorney in Columbus and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, have signed a letter that pledges not to use their offices’ resources to enforce abortion bans.
Tunnell called the move “reckless.”
“I don’t think you can say that categorically, to pick a charge and not prosecute it based on the nature of the charge — we’re not elected to do that,” he said, adding all cases are unique and different.
He added that Ashland County, which he described as “overwhelmingly pro-life,” does not have clinics that perform abortions.
“There are offenses I am not particularly a fan of, but we still prosecute them,” Tunnell said. “We’ll follow the law of the land.”
Both Sample and Javens said there were some counter protesters who showed up to oppose the group’s message.
“There were maybe five to 10 people that gave us the (middle) finger,” Sample said. “And some told us to go home. But we are home, I mean we live here.”
Ashland Police Lt. Aaron Kline had a presence during Saturday’s demonstration.
Kline ended up charging a teenaged boy with willful or wanton operation on a street or highway and squealing tires as a juvenile traffic offender, according to citations filed by police on July 16.
Sample said the minor “did a 360” after losing control of his car, which when stopped before came onto the sidewalk where the demonstrators stood.
Javens said the incident was “a little frightening.”
“The crowd was a bit riled up … I think he was just trying to show off a little bit,” Javens said of the teen in the car. “He lost control of his vehicle and it could have been worse, I’m thankful that it wasn’t.”
Javens said she is considering organizing additional rallies, but did not have specific information.
