Cleveland, OH –– Today, the Director for Office for Civil Rights Melanie Fontes Rainer joined doctors and students at Free & Just’s “Ride to Decide” national bus tour in Cleveland to highlight what’s at stake as extremist lawmakers work to ban abortion nationwide. The Ride to Decide bus tour comes as attacks on reproductive freedom escalate across the country. Support for legal abortion has increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, but that hasn’t stopped anti-abortion extremists and conservative lawmakers from continuing to undermine Americans’ access to abortion care,  birth control, and IVF treatment. 

At the event, the Director, health care providers, and community leaders shared how attacks on reproductive freedom harm women and families in Ohio and across the country.

“After lots of infertility treatments I became pregnant with twins, and I suffered a miscarriage and I had a DNC which is an abortion. To some it’s miscarriage management, call it whatever you want, it’s healthcare” said Melanie Fontes Rainer, the Director for the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services. Fontes Rainer went on to describe that she was able to receive the standard of care that every single person across the country should receive and now cannot because of the Dobbs decision. Following two physicians at the event who described fearing prosecution while Ohio had a near-total abortion ban in place, Fontes Rainer highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to protect reproductive freedom and shared that “During that time, I was working on a rule that the Biden-Harris Administration has since put out to protect your privacy. That means law enforcement and other actors cannot just target your medical records to see what kind of healthcare you’re getting and target you and your provider for criminal, administrative, or civil liabilities. They can’t go after your doctors to threaten them.”

“Every single day there are extremist politicians who think that they know what my patients need better than my patients themselves, and who think that they know medicine and medical care better than I do,” said Dr. Maria Phillis, an OBGYN in Cleveland. She went on to highlight how difficult it is for providers to practice under abortion bans, sharing that “In Ohio, we know all too well the effects of a near total abortion ban because for about three months, we practiced with a near total abortion ban. We practiced while looking over our shoulders, trying to make sure that we saved our patients’ lives, that somebody wasn’t going to question it, send us to court, prosecute us, charge us with a felony, make us lose our license. We ended up turning away patients who had lethal fetal anomalies, who had complications serious enough to warrant an abortion under these bizarre standards that are set by these extremists who don’t really understand medical decision making or health care.”

“Prior to issue 1, abortion bans had affected young people both at my college and in Ohio because students did not feel safe and protected with attacks against their reproductive freedom and their right to reproductive and sexual health care,” said Ashley Grant, representing Planned Parenthood Generation Action Chapter at Case Western University. Speaking about how critical it is that young people are aware of resources that are available to them as attacks on our reproductive freedoms escalate, Ashley said “education and awareness of resources for students is powerful. We can and will make a change as young people not only in Ohio but nationwide” 

“I went into medicine knowing I wanted to take care of people, I really wanted to empower women through their health and share in the relationship only doctors and patients do,” said Dr. Tani Malhotra, a maternal fetal medicine specialist. “51 years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that decisions about abortion belong to patients and their doctors. The Dobbs decision took that away from me and from patients.” Speaking about who decides how much risk is worth taking in a pregnancy, Dr. Malhotra went on to say that “risk calculation belongs to the patient. Not only risk, but the decision to have a child, to grow a family – all those decisions belong to the people who are pregnant themselves. We have to trust women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. The Dobbs decision took away personal, life affirming decisions from patients and gave it to lawmakers who have never had to sit with patients and share in the worst moments of people’s lives”

The “Ride to Decide” tour is headed to Cincinnati, Ohio next, where local storytellers and Congressman Greg Landsman will spotlight the real-life impacts of abortion bans and attacks on reproductive freedom and share why federal action to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care has never been more important.

You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the press event, please contact ashley@freeandjust.us.

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.