An issue for them? Ohio’s 50+ women emboldened by Moreno comments on abortion

Ohio women 50 and older are headed to the polls having lived through the days before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, during the time when abortion was legal, and now, after the decision was overturned in 2022 and power given to each state to decide.

That has played a factor in many women’s decisions at the ballot box, though it’s only one factor of many, voters told the Capital Journal in interviews last week.

“I am not a single issue voter, by any means,” said Mansfield resident and registered Republican Linda Smith.

But abortion rights has come to the forefront, and in fact has galvanized older women voters in the weeks leading up to the November general election.

U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno made comments about abortion rights and the interests of suburban women, which have since been used in campaign ads against him.

Those comments have also renewed conversations about the topic with women who may not be experiencing pregnancy or the need for an abortion, but who remember times when reproductive health care was more risky, and are looking to the future for their daughters and granddaughters.

“Women don’t make their health care choices and decisions lightly and they’re often complicated decisions.” Smith said. “They’re life-altering.”

Moreno’s comments were made at a town hall in Warren County and first made public by WCMH via a viewer-submitted video.

“You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters,” Moreno said. “Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ OK. It’s a little crazy by the way, but — especially for women that are like past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

After a pause, he added, “Oh, thank God my wife didn’t hear that part.”

Moreno’s campaign did not respond to a request by the OCJ for comment, but in a previous statement to The Statehouse News Bureau, spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said Moreno was “clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the leftwing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion.”

After Moreno’s comments, an open letter was released by Republican, independent and Democratic-voting women, saying Moreno “mocked many of us who are over the age of fifty” and criticizing him for trying to “play your comments off as a joke” after the fact.

“As Ohio women across the political spectrum, we don’t agree on everything,” the letter stated. “But there are some things bigger than party politics. What unites us is the firm belief that Ohio women should have the ability to make their own health care choices, free from the involvement of people like you.”

Smith was one of the Republican voters to sign on to the letter.

“It’s distressing to me to see that this (issue) has become a political pawn,” Smith told the Capital Journal.

The issue is coming up among other priorities for older Ohioans, such as inflation, the economy and Social Security.

An August survey commissioned by the AARP showed 16% of Ohio’s 50+ voters polled placed it as their first or second choice among important issues driving their votes in the general election. Nine percent of 50+ survey takers put it as their most important issue in the election, putting it above other single issues like Social Security, taxes, gun control, crime, general health care, foreign policy, Medicare and climate change.

The AARP poll also found that 94% of 50+ Ohio voters plan to vote in the upcoming election.

Overall, incumbent Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown held a narrow lead over Moreno, 46%-42%, but among 50+ voters specifically, the race was reportedly much closer, with Moreno holding a five-point edge in the August AARP numbers.

Seville resident Mosie Welch is a registered Democrat in her 60s, and she readily admits reproductive rights tops the list of issues she is using to decide her votes. She connects reproductive health care to family issues, along with the economic health of the state and the concept of individual rights.

“Yes, this is one of the big issues driving my vote, especially at the national level, because I fear what will happen if women no longer have the right to make decisions about their own bodies as they don’t in some states today,” Welch said.

As a mother and grandmother, she wants to see future women have the “full range of health care necessary to ensure that they can live their life as fully as possible.”

“I’m not expecting to personally need this health care, but I would imagine there’s many families worried about this issue,” Welch said.

She also fears for the rights of physicians, who expressed concern about litigation and the potential loss of medical licenses, along with patient care delays, as the debate over abortion rights went on after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade.

“When that happens and a woman dies, or a woman loses their fertility, or is racking up huge medical bills, that doesn’t just affect one individual,” Welch said. “It affects everybody, it affects the community.”

Combining her decades of life experience and the rhetoric of the 2024 election has only served to motivate Welch and her fellow voters, like Susan Polakoff Shaw.

“I know a lot of women who are rage-filled, and it’s women around my age who know what it’s like, who have heard what it was like pre-Roe,” said Shaw, who did work for Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights during the 2023 election. “It’s about being able to control your life and have a say in your future and your destiny, and your health and your family.”

More than just reproductive rights as an issue for older women, Smith said her decisions in the upcoming election are informed by elected officials who “frequently disregard the will of the people,” including legislative attempts and comments that seek to undermine the reproductive rights amendment passed by a majority of state voters last year.

“You can disagree, but when 57% of the electorate votes for that, you need to respect that,” Smith said.

But Smith said she is optimistic for the future of Ohio and even the Republican Party, partly because of the discussion brought on by Moreno’s comments.

“People who rise above their differences to fight for common causes  – like you are seeing now for women’s reproductive freedoms,” Smith said, “it’s that collective voice and vote that will make a difference.”

This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal