Our Goal
Americans are facing the greatest challenge to reproductive rights and abortion access in a generation. With the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, state-level advocates, activists and care providers like those at Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio are critical to securing abortion access and protecting bodily autonomy for millions of Americans across the country.
West End Strategy Team works closely with Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and its affiliates to draw attention to the firsthand health effects of abortion bans on patients throughout the state. Together, we create and pursue opportunities to elevate the unparalleled expertise of the organization’s leaders, spokespeople and validators in the field of reproductive health care and the needs of patients throughout the state.
Our
Partnership
WEST worked closely with Planned Parenthood to prepare for the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization while ensuring Ohioans knew their rights and could access the care they needed.
Ahead of the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, WEST contacted the top national gender and reproductive healthcare reporters to secure interviews with Iris Harvey, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. This outreach led to conversations with NPR’s Sarah McCammon, resulting in stories featuring Iris on both Morning Edition and All Things Considered. WEST collaborated with the organization to conceptualize and place an op-ed authored by Iris in the Ohio Capital Journal, a leading nonprofit news outlet covering Ohio state government through an investigative lens. The piece discussed the state of abortion access in Ohio as we marked what we now know as the last anniversary of the constitutional right to an abortion under Roe.
Following the unprecedented leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft Dobbs decision, WEST moved quickly to disseminate the organization’s message and ensure that Ohioans knew they still had access to abortion and essential reproductive healthcare services. When people across the country took to the streets to declare “Bans Off Our Bodies,” WEST provided staff support for the rally in Columbus and elevated Planned Parenthood experts, securing coverage of the rallies in local outlets across the state as well as in national outlets such as NPR, USA Today and BuzzFeed.
Ahead of the release of the final Dobbs decision overturning both v. Wade and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, WEST developed public and stakeholder statements, commentary pieces, talking points and toolkits for activists to prepare for possible scenarios. The advanced planning enabled WEST to host a media briefing within three hours of the release of the decision, successfully personalizing and amplifying the impact of restrictions on health care. More than 50 local and national reporters covering Ohio politics, health, gender, and politics and elections attended, validating the organization’s reputation centering patient care above all.