The Cleveland Women's March Returns Saturday, One Year After Roe Fell

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 40-year-old legal decision ensuring a constitutional right to abortion access, 100 cities throughout the country will be hosting a Women’s March to remind the public of the loss of individual rights.

And that includes Cleveland.

From noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, a group of supportive activists and politicians will spearhead the march, which is typically held in January. Attendees are to meet in front of City Hall, at 601 Lakeside.

Former Senator Nina Turner, Senator Nickie Antonio and activist Angela Shute-Woodson are slated to speak on City Hall’s steps, before the march makes its way westward, down Lakeside and eventually to Public Square. Though not confirmed, it’s rumored Mayor Bibb and Council President Blaine Griffin will be in attendance.

Kathy Coleman, a longtime activist-journalist who’s directed Cleveland’s march since January 2017, told Scene that Saturday’s “emergency mobilization” on the anniversary intends to highlight both the setbacks and the push forward in Roe’s wake.

“It’s devastating to Ohio women,” Coleman said. “The overturning of Roe freed the state to do as they please.”

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court voted in Dobbs v. Jackson, the landmark case that scrutinized the right to abortion after 24 weeks gestation, that states would get to set their own abortion laws. Like 33 others, Ohio now has a restrictive abortion policy, banning such procedures from 22 weeks after conception.

To mixed consequences. Along with the highly controversial incident where a 10-year-old girl had travel out of state to get an abortion, and the $3,000 fine against the doctor who spoke about her case, there have been nearly as many abortions performed across the state since before the Dobbs decision.

In December, almost 2,000 procedures were done statewide, close to the number performed in Ohio last May, according to a report by NBC.

For Coleman, who’s spent 25 years reporting on Black issues in Cleveland, Roe’s crumbling has brought Black women to the same fears they experienced before 1972. American Black women are about four times more likely to have abortions performed than white women, the CDC reported in 2019.

Coleman said she can’t help but direct her harangues at Gov. Mike DeWine, who’s long been an opponent of Roe’s protections.

“We are disappointed in the governor,” Coleman said, “because instead of dealing with things like high mortality rates and female mortality rates in the Black community, he’s harassing women. He’s forgotten what his role is.”

Saturday’s march is also an opportunity, Coleman urged, for pro-choice supporters to rally around political action points. For starters, Coleman said, voting “no” on State Issue 1, which would make state guaranteed access harder to pass, is a start.

As for Mayor Bibb, he has recently appeared to show his cognizance of the issues on Coleman’s agenda. In the spring, Bibb’s office opened up applications for the new Black Women and Girls Commission, a direct response to Cleveland’s rating, by Bloomberg, as one of the worst U.S. cities for Black women.

Regardless, Coleman maintains her fight in spite of occasional cynicism and the political doubt she’s felt every since the 2016 Republication National Convention.

“That’s what I learned” in those seven years, Coleman said. “Is that racism and sexism are still alive and well in America.”