Passing the Torch—A New Chapter for Abortion Fund of Ohio

Since March 2022, Abortion Fund of Ohio (AFO)  has grown immensely under the leadership of Interim Executive Director, Maggie Scotece. AFO’s Board & staff extend our heartfelt thanks & congratulations to Maggie as they join the Reproductive Rights Law Initiative at Case Western Reserve University. In this role, Maggie will continue their path as a bold leader in reproductive rights law, fighting against abortion restrictions & pregnancy criminalization. AFO looks forward to continued collaboration with Maggie & the RRLI team!

Over the last year, AFO has conducted a diligent search for a permanent Executive Director—a visionary with the values and skills we need to thrive. Following an intensive interview & selection process, Abortion Fund of Ohio is proud to name Lexis Dotson-Dufault as our next Executive Director!

Lexi is a doula, abortion advocate, We Testify storyteller, and Advocates for Youth Co-Coordinator. She’s a first-generation college student and former foster youth passionate about abolition, Black liberation and the perseverance through generational trauma with mutual aid, community care, and trauma-informed care. Lexi is one of AFO’s current Patient Navigation Program Managers, with a long history of leadership within & beyond the organization.

“Almost five years ago when I had my first abortion, I could not imagine feeling empowered by my decision. It was not until I became part of AFO and the Reproductive Justice community that I realized my abortions are the reason I am powerful” said Lexi, “As the first Black Executive Director at AFO,  I am committed to continuing the work of the Black women that have fought endlessly for us to have control of our own bodies and lives, and for our communities to live safely and healthily. Every single person deserves supportive, loving, de-stigmatized access to abortion care and I am honored to lead a team that has dedicated their life to ensuring this can be people’s reality in Ohio.”

In addition to lived experience and work in Reproductive Justice spaces, Lexi has strong foundations in management and education. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts in Social Policy and Trauma-Informed Education, focusing her studies on the school-to-prison pipeline. Following graduation, she joined the Reproductive Rights Activists Service Corps (RRACS) program at Hampshire College, which led her to intern, volunteer, then later serve on AFO’s Board of Directors.

“It’s truly been an honor to work alongside Lexi in my time at AFO” said Scotece, “Throughout this transition, our staff expressed the need for a pro-abortion, values-driven Executive Director. Lexi’s dedication and experience—not only as a Reproductive Justice leader, but also as a Black woman and abortion storyteller—make her a perfect fit for the job.”

Abortion Fund of Ohio wholeheartedly and unequivocally stands in solidarity with those experiencing settler colonial violence and ethnic cleansing in Occupied Palestine. As we all seek for a world of peace and liberation, we must never waver from standing with the oppressed. As an organization grounded in Reproductive Justice values, we believe all people have the right to bodily autonomy and self-determination free from occupation. We believe that all people have the right to have a family and parent their children with the dignity and resources to live safely and healthily. 

Reproductive Justice cannot exist when you are denied basic human rights and essentials such as food, water, electricity and freedom of movement. Reproductive Justice cannot exist when you are being bombed and massacred in your homes, in your streets, in your schools. Reproductive Justice cannot exist when medical supplies are being withheld, hospitals are being targeted and paramedics and doctors slaughtered. 

The world is witnessing the complete annihilation of Gaza and the Palestinian people, with the United States as a main accomplice and perpetrator. We have a moral obligation to unlearn biased rhetoric and learn beyond our bubble of western propaganda to understand the Palestinian struggle for liberation after being subject to apartheid and genocide on their own land after seven decades. 

Supporting a free Palestine is not at odds with Judaism. To suggest that these are in conflict is wholly false. Learn to distinguish Judaism & Zionism.

We call on the United States to immediately stop funding billions of dollars and weaponry to the Israeli military.

We call on ALL media outlets, politicians, and journalists to immediately stop the circulation of dehumanizing and genocidal rhetoric of Palestinian people to justify horrendous acts of violence.

There is no peace under occupation.
Stop the genocide. 
End the siege. 
End the violence. 
End the occupation. 

Donate

• Medical Aid for Palestinians
• Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Follow

• @cairohio
• @palestinianyouthmovement
• @adalahjusticeproject

Read our previous joint solidarity statement with Palestine.

Image description: Purple and pink gradient header, featuring a chain link breaking free. Text reads, “Abortion Fund of Ohio: Our Statement of Solidarity. Repro Workers Deserve Better—A Call-In to Planned Parenthood Federation of America”

Click here to add your name or organization to this statement of solidarity

Repro Workers Deserve Better—A Call-In to Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)

Starting this week, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) commenced mass layoffs, removing between 10% and 20% of all staff. These come nearly a year to the day after Dobbs,  and PPFA shamelessly justifies these layoffs as a necessary shift of resources back to state affiliates. From PPFA’s official workplace values, they: 

We tend to the team:
1. We help each other grow
2. We consider how decisions will affect people
3. We invest in our teams and ourselves

Let’s examine how PPFA is purportedly "tending to their team" in light of their own workplace values:

• Though less than 50% of all PPFA workers are union eligible, more than half of initial layoffs were union members
• 18 of the 30 union workers laid off in the DC union were people of color
• Among those laid off, several were on parental or medical leave
• Of the staff laid off, many positions directly supporting affiliates were eliminated, while union-busting management positions were preserved.
• Team members who remain employed have been callously abandoned by their leadership, left in the dark about further layoffs, the future of their teams, & the role they play.
• Despite PPFA’s reasoning for restructuring, affiliates have had little-to-no power in this shift. Over the last decade, PPFA has sourced national office workers from affiliates, only to lay off many of these recruits to ‘support’ affiliates.
• PPFA staff are expected to continue business as usual: devoid of any guidance, support, or explanation.

As the largest—and most visible—repro organization and workers’ union in the country, PPFA’s actions will undoubtedly have lasting effects on both PFFA workers AND repro workers organizing across the country. We won’t watch in silence as our fellow workers’ needs are swept under the rug. PPFA’s reprehensible actions are unacceptable: We—as an abortion fund, as workers, & as members of the repro community at large—demand accountability to your unions, workers, affiliates, and the communities they serve. Abortion Fund of Ohio—and the undersigned—unequivocally stand with 500 SEIU PPFA, DC,  and 1199 SEIU PPFA, NYC.

For all impacted workers, at PPFA & beyond:

Repro Jobs has opened applications for the Repro Worker Aid Fund: reprojobs.org/aid. Folks in repro who are un- or under-employed can apply for $500, $750, or $1,000 based on need. 

Both of PPFA’s unions are organized through Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents more than 2 million united workers in healthcare & public fields. Workers are protected in forming a union at their workplace by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and cannot legally be subject to retaliation for collectivizing worker power. Nonetheless, union busting & retaliation for union demands are rampant across the non-profit sector, and all workers should take care when organizing. Find more information on starting a union at your workplace at the Department of Labor’s Worker Organizing Resource and Knowledge Center.

Click here to add your name or organization to this statement of solidarity

Signed in solidarity,

Organizations
Abortion Fund of Ohio
Ohio Women’s Alliance
Utah Abortion Fund
Indigenous Women Rising
Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective
Between Us
Guttmacher Employees United
Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project
ReproJobs
NYC for Abortion Rights

Individuals
Colleen Damerell
Aileen Day
​​Kim Varela-Broxson
Morgan Muelken
Gina Rini-Reese
Taren Holliman
Sierra Dobbs-Brown
Bailey Lang
Lauren Sega
Micky Dale
Cat Hoffman
Colleen Dempsey
Cindy Su
Kelsey
Kristin Wall
Arpita Appannagari
Jordyn Close
Sam Woodring
Hannah Thalenberg
Josie Harris
Crystal Grabowski
Jimena Esparza
Kara
Asa Saltzberg
Brandi Collins Calhoun
Yasmine Ramachandra
Sarah Louis
Jessica Brager
Julie Damerell
Andrea Canini
Valerie V. Hendrickson
Cassidy Clark
Cole Papadopoulos
Louisa Thanhauser
Erica Chaffin
Jes Stein
Sarah Tuttle
Emily Greene
Chris Palcsak
Crystal Coleman
Celia Gomez
Teddy Thomas
Taylor Fleming
Josette Hinojosa
Metzly Valencia
Melanie McDonald
Libby Kusiak
Andrew Ribeiro
Sylvia
Amy Fisher
Kathryn Guimont
Sarah Peters
Heather Smith
Erin Kenney
ShelLynn Beasley
Aasha Jackson
Dominic Thixton
Stuart Lukz
Nicole Moore
Rosie Richeson
Helen Bolton
Maggie