Let's not lose the Ohio we've known and loved
Letter to the Editor,
Here’s a story that’s been keeping me awake at night: Last week a pregnant 10-year-old rape victim, barely past the six-week limit of the new Ohio abortion law, had to be taken to Indiana to end her pregnancy. Had she stayed in Ohio, legally, she would have been denied the medical care she desperately needed and forced to carry the fetus to term. This is only the beginning of the many girls and women who will suffer or die under this cruel law and the total abortion ban that will replace it by the end of the year.
The dominant Republicans in the Ohio legislature and government are enforcing their extreme religious beliefs and narrow-minded, mean-spirited policies on all Ohio citizens, a majority of whom oppose them. We have a primary election on Aug. 2, but Matt Huffman and other Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission made sure Ohioans will choose candidates based on unfair redistricting maps, declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court for blatantly favoring Republicans.
So if you oppose laws that ban abortion or allow concealed carry without a permit or state interference in how history is taught in schools, what recourse do you have? Certainly not the U.S. Supreme Court! Plain and simple, vote as if your life depended on it. Despite the last 10 years of living in one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, it’s still so important to turn out and be counted. As a longtime poll worker, I believe the voting process itself in Ohio to be accurate and fair.
But voting alone is not enough. I call on all of you who are concerned about the current state of affairs in Ohio to stand up and speak out against the unfair tactics and policies of officials who are supposed to represent us, not oppress us. Silence and inaction in this moment mean sure defeat. Ohio is at a turning point, with our basic democratic rights being threatened. If we do not join together and resist what’s already happening, we lose the Ohio we have known and loved.
Mady Noble
Wooster