Keep those colors flying proudly, Cleveland
A group of Chagrin Falls ladies called the Tap Divas.
(Thomas Ondrey / The Plain Dealer)
Greta Johnson is a freshman Democratic legislator in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Eighteen months ago, I didn't believe there was a war on women. I'd heard the phrase thrown around in discussions of pay equity and reproductive rights. As a prosecutor of special victims' cases, I'd heard the statistics about women and girls and their likelihood of becoming victims of sexual assault. But, if you would have asked me if there was a systematic war by our government and society on women, I would have told you no. Unequivocally, no.
I was raised by parents who assured me that if I worked hard enough, I would accomplish whatever I set out to do. They raised me to be audacious enough to demand that my voice be heard. And, it worked. I accomplished my goals. My voice was heard. Time and again.
Academic, athletic and professional accomplishments rewarded my audacious demands for success. And the audacity to think I could serve the 35th Ohio House District worked, too.
So, it came as a huge shock to me to find myself in an elected state office declaring for the first time in my life: "The war on women is real." It, too, is audacious.
It took becoming an elected public servant to see firsthand how truly systemic the problem is.
I acknowledge that a certain amount of privilege is reflected in my 38 years of ignorance about the battle. I was raised in a working class home by two devoted parents. I was able to put myself through school and achieve my dream job of being a trial lawyer and prosecuting cases for the state of Ohio. When I was underestimated or undervalued in a classroom, gymnasium or courtroom, it was an advantage -- in my mind. That way, they never saw the audacity of me coming.
I know the feeling. The realization that I was different, that I was being treated differently, that I was representing and serving a different population, hit me all at once -- I never saw it coming.
I'd stood on the House floor, decrying the six-week abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape and incest. The majority members rolled their eyes and snickered. I'd watched in horror as GOP men booed Denise Driehaus (Democrat of Cincinnati) the ranking member of our finance committee. She stood up to speak about Ohio's budget and they booed her. And, no one stopped them.
Kent Smith (Democrat of Euclid) was gaveled down on the floor whilst trying to bring attention to the lack of pay equity. He was right. They just didn't want to hear it.
Teresa Fedor (Democrat of Toledo) stood on the House floor to bravely speak her truth about her own sexual assault and abortion, and they laughed. When Kathleen Clyde (Democrat of Kent) stood to make an amendment to the state budget calling for an end to the wage gap, the women of the GOP moved to table the vote.
These are the partisan battles -- rooted in a dismissive philosophy of women's access to health care and equitable treatment -- that make up an audacious war.
So, it comes as no surprise now, that the outright assault on women is being fought through hugely publicized grainy surveillance video that has since been discredited and relegated to less coverage than an editor's spelling correction on the back page, below the fold. It is shameful.
Now, House Bill 294 aims to defund all medical service providers that perform elective abortions. Despite the fact, and law, that prevents public dollars from paying for any abortion services, that's not good enough. Now, the GOP wants to defund birth control, STD testing, cervical cancer screens, HIV treatment, all of it. Wiped out because they don't trust women. The audacity of a woman to make medical decisions about her reproductive health is too much for the majority to take.
What is most fascinating is that what HB 294 truly sets out to do -- end all elective abortions -- will fail miserably. Jettisoning access to birth control will simply lead to more unintended pregnancies and, thus, more abortions. Eliminating access to safe legal abortions will not make abortions go away. It will make them dangerous and deadly. HB 294 puts the women and families of Ohio at risk. More than half of Ohio is made up of women. Less than on- third of Ohio's state representation is made up of women. The cracks are starting to show and the war is real.
I watched with relief last week as the U.S. Senate blocked a bill to eliminate federal funding from elective abortion providers. I can only hope the Ohio House is audacious enough to follow suit.
Greta Johnson is a freshman Democratic legislator in the Ohio House of Representatives and former assistant county prosecutor from Akron. She is married and the mother of two daughters.