Draft Resolution on Safe Reproductive Healthcare, Pedestrian Accessibility, and 2023 Budget discussed at Athens City Council

Athens City Council discussed a draft resolution on abortion access in the city and received an update from the Ad Hoc Committee on Pedestrian Accessibility in its Monday meeting.

Councilmember Sarah Grace presented changes to a draft resolution that would make Athens a “sanctuary city” for reproductive rights. The impetus for this resolution came from Athenians for Bodily Autonomy (ABA) in August, following the Dobbs decision. 

The resolution is modeled after a similar resolution passed in Columbus and Cleveland.

In Monday’s meeting of the Committee of the Whole, this topic was discussed for a third time. The topic was discussed first on Aug. 28, where there was a proposal to make Athens a sanctuary city and then on Oct. 17 where council heard speeches from ABA members.

Councilmember Grace pointed to changes made on the draft to fit requirements recommended by the city’s law director and stylistic choices suggested by members of council.

“All people have the right to bodily autonomy, upon their choices and control over private medical decisions,” Grace said. She explained further that reproductive health care and a right to an abortion is not only affecting pregnant people, as implied in an earlier draft, but also families and significant others.

The limitations of council’s authority pertaining to the resolution were also addressed. 

Under current law in Ohio, abortion would be treated as a felony. A crime that is charged by the county prosecutor. City Council does not have the power over what the county prosecutor does, Grace said.

“The purpose of this resolution is to make a statement of our beliefs,” Grace said.

Loraine McCosker, an Athenian active with Abortion Access Now, said she thought council would pass an ordinance, not just draft a resolution. 

“Abortion is medical care, it is a human right,” McCosker said in her speech.

McCosker further highlighted the economic importance of Athens as a place where people can receive all health care needed. “Why would (students) come to Ohio (University) when they could actually go to jail for seeking reproductive health care?” McCosker said.

After her speech, McCosker argued with Councilmember Jeffrey Risner, who was acting council president while Council President Chris Knisely was acting mayor, why they did not discuss the resolution further this evening.

Risner explained that the resolution of safe reproductive health care is a work in progress and Councilmember Alan Swank added that there will be no vote tonight.

Grace said that there are no facilities in Athens that perform abortions, so people seeking abortions would have to leave the city anyways.

“The city does not have the authority to say that some state laws do not apply here. We are in the state of Ohio,” Grace said. “What you are asking of us is not something that we have the authority to do.”

Other audience members were pleased with the draft. United Campus Ministry Operations Manager Ari Faber, who is also a member of ABA, described crying upon first seeing the resolution.

Despite supporting the resolution, Faber had some qualms.

“I am more than a little disappointed that it dialed back a lot from the ordinance that we sent City Council just a month ago,” Faber said.

“I think for the state as a whole, there was a little bit of hope of maybe being able to keep that block on the abortion ban,” Faber said, taking abortion rights and the resolution in the context of last week’s election. “However, now with the Ohio Supreme Court being Republican majority still, they're hearing the case in mid-December. I think at that point, the six week ban will go back into effect.”

Another member of ABA, Sara Quoia Bryant, also spoke at last night’s meeting. Bryant is also a member of the Ohio Community Rights Network.

“I came to speak to council because health care and reproductive rights for women are important to me. And I have some familiarity with our process of getting legislation established and we are wanting to do something that is going to have a little bit of teeth,” Bryant said. “You know, these guys, they want to write a letter that says ‘this is how we feel about something.’ So we were here just to kind of observe that process, which is a step in the right direction, but it's not really what we're hoping to achieve.”

Bryant addressed other projects she had been active on during her speech and asked council why they were able to pass ordinance and vote against state law in other situations, like the Watershed Protection Act.

However, Bryant said that the resolution is the best next step and she is positive that it will pass in council.

Also on the agenda was infrastructure. The Transportation Committee heard about the progress from the Ad Hoc Committee on Pedestrian Accessibility. 

Committee member Diane Bouvier presented the third update on the committee’s work and highlighted the importance of pedestrian friendly sidewalks.

“Sidewalks are really more than concrete,” Bouvier said. “There is a magic to them.”

The committee invited Athens poet laureate Wendy McVicker, who read her poem “Sidewalks” to council.

Committee member Stefanie Hunter introduced the concept of SPACE to the audience stating that pedestrians need safety, proximity, accessibility, connection and ease.

Councilmember Solveig Spjeldnes spoke as part of the committee on the findings of the survey conducted by Ad Hoc with Athenians.

“We got the sense that the community is committed to making the sidewalks better,” Spjeldness said.

Key findings from the survey are a need for smooth, level sidewalks; there are not enough sidewalks in areas around Athens, like on Richland Avenue; discontinuous path walks and a needed balance of pedestrians and drivers.

The committee plans on finalizing their survey, continuing to collect opinions and input of Athenians and presenting a final draft to Council in Jan. 2023. 

“This is what I love most about City Council, to see stuff like this. Citizens involved to make the city better,” Councilmember Ben Ziff said, noting that he was emotionally moved.

In other business, the Planning and Development Committee discussed a lot split at Pleasant Hill Road and the Finance and Personnel Committee talked about the city budget for 2023. The salaries of elected officials were addressed by City Council, specifically the salaries of council members and others will rise in 2023 and again in 2024. As of now each council member would receive $8,918.78 in 2023 and $9,097.14 in 2024. However, these sums can change if the council decides to do so.