Catholics for Choice Launches Billboard Blitz Ahead of Ohio Abortion Vote
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, October 26, 2023
Contact: John Becker, Press Secretary
Phone: 202-203-0931
Email: jbecker@catholicsforchoice.org
Catholics for Choice Launches Billboard Blitz Ahead of Ohio Abortion Vote
The message: “Pro-Choice Catholics: You Are Not Alone. Vote YES on Issue 1”
WASHINGTON — Catholics for Choice, which uplifts and amplifies the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom, announced the launch of a major billboard advertising campaign running today through Election Day in Ohio encouraging pro-choice Catholic voters to vote yes on Issue 1, a reproductive rights amendment that would enshrine the right to access abortion, contraception, miscarriage care, and fertility treatment in the Ohio constitution. Polls consistently show that a clear majority of Catholics believes access to abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and that Roe v. Wade should not have been overturned.
Starting today, Catholics for Choice is blanketing the Buckeye State with more than 30 billboards across Ohio, including in its seven largest metropolitan areas (Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown). The signs read “63% of Catholics support legal abortion in all or most cases” and “Pro-Choice Catholics: You Are Not Alone” and tell them to “Vote YES on Issue 1.” They will make nearly 9 million impressions between now and Election Day on November 7.
Catholics for Choice President Jamie L. Manson, M.Div. said:
“Catholics for Choice recognizes what is at stake on the Ohio ballot and how important it is for pro-choice Catholics in Ohio to know that they are not alone. In fact, we are the majority, and 63% of Catholics support legal abortion in all or most cases. Most people of faith believe in abortion rights. In the same way bishops are organizing their parishes to try to defeat Issue 1, so too must pro-choice religious groups mobilize to say: ‘Not in the name of our faith will you take away fundamental freedoms.’
“Ohio’s Catholic bishops are pulling out all the stops to stigmatize and silence pro-choice Catholics across the state, preaching blistering sermons from the pulpit and pouring an astonishing $1.4 million into the campaign to defeat this abortion rights amendment. Their spending is an outrageous misuse of the hard-earned funds that ordinary Catholics donate to their parishes and dioceses.
“Catholics for Choice is immensely proud to spend just a fraction of what the bishops are spending in Ohio to counter their harmful messages with the truth of our own: pro-choice Catholics are not alone, and they must help pass Issue 1.”
Catholics for Choice President Jamie L. Manson, M.Div. and Catholics for Choice Ohio Field Organizer Nicole Morino are available for comment.
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Catholics for Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to a person’s well-being and respect, and affirm the capacity of all people to make moral decisions about their lives.
