CLEVELAND,Ohio-Women's March Cleveland, the largest grassroots women's rights group in Northeast Ohio, is concerned that the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, has issued a no endorsement on Ohio State Issue 1.

Issue 1 is on Ohio's Nov. 7 ballot and, if passed by Ohio voters, it would enshrine the legal right to abortion and other reproductive measures for women in the Ohio constitution.

In an editorial published online on Oct 29 by the PD's Chris Quin, the editor and content director, Quinn said the reason for the no endorsement by the newspaper's editorial board is that the newspaper lacks the clout to influence the measure one way or another. That did not sit well with Women's March Cleveland.

"That is bull and we are disappointed that the editorial board of Ohio's largest newspaper has chosen not to endorse Issue 1 when women have supported this newspaper since its existence," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, a Black activist and community organizer of Cleveland and a longtime local journalist who writes on Black and other issues.

Coleman said that the issue deserves support and that "the PD has seemingly sold out at a time when Ohio women need and deserve its support." The activist and community organizer went on to say that " women in Ohio will not forget this."

"We rarely opt not to endorse," Quinn wrote. "Voters must choose, so we feel we would be copping out to say we don't like any of the candidates and won't endorse. We regularly hold our noses and endorse a bad candidate because the alternatives are worse."

Polling shows that the reproductive rights amendment to enshrine abortion in the Ohio constitution will likely pass as early voting is currently underway.

Last year, on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Dobbs vs Mississippi Health Organization, which was on appeal to the nation's highest court, ended access to abortion for women nationwide and gave individual states the authority to legislate abortion and reproductive rights not regulated by federal law, including to restrict or outright outlaw the procedure altogether. It, no doubt, caused a firestorm of protests throughout the country, including in Ohio, a pivotal state for presidential elections that both Obama and Trump won two times.

More than 14 states have near-total abortion bans during any point in pregnancy in effect, and at least six states have implemented abortions bans with other limits from six to 20 weeks bans. Ohio has a six-week abortion ban dubbed the heartbeat bill that is on hold per a judge's ruling as lawsuits over the controversial state law make their way through the courts. If issue 1 passes it would immediately negate the heartbeat bill.

Ohio will become the seventh state in the country to vote on abortion rights behind Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Vermont, Montana and California. All those states had either proposals that enshrined the right to an abortion, or that allowed the state to regulate abortion.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.