Marching women vow to carry fight back home to Ohio

Jan. 23--On the morning after the Women's March on Washington, Ohio's mothers, sisters and daughters are coming home to rest their weary legs after driving 700 miles and walking a few more.

And they're thinking about how their small part in a massive movement will carry them in the future.

"Before, I was kind of compelled to become more active. But I always called myself a lawn-chair liberal," said Sharon Sopko-Roeck, a retired Barberton teacher who returned last night with a busload of women.

Like the hundreds of thousands who came to the nation's capital the day after President Donald Trump took office, she was counted in a crowd so big that it resembled less a march and more of an occupation that inched across the federal district.

In the mix, Sopko-Roeck witnessed strength in numbers.

She heard it in the chants that reverberated in tunnels beneath overpasses, or in the tingling sensation she got when it washed over her.

"I had a catch in my throat," she said. "You just felt that surge of emotion. It just kind of rolled over you."

And she acknowledged the power in unity: "Look at this, this outpouring of so many things, but people so very much feeling the same about humanity."

Bottling and nurturing that synergy, women are agreeing, could sustain the spirit of the march. They're drawing inspiration from the conversations had in the past 36 hours with young and old activists of all colors and creeds who banded together in feminism. Some shared their work back home on local campaigns, whether for candidates or causes. Others signed up for national movements like Indivisible Guide, an online clearinghouse for resisting Trump's agenda.

Many are taking the fight home.

"Following the march and during the march itself, it was important to feel that kinship. Now that I'm back home, I'm looking forward to getting involved locally," said Sopko-Roeck, who isn't sure what that involvement looks like just yet.

"But unless things change," she continued, "I will be standing up out of my armchair for the next four years."

Crossing into Pennsylvania Saturday night, Susan Beall pulled off the highway for a break after a long 24 hours. At a rest stop, she found herself surrounded by pink hats worn by women who also had attended the march.

The Hudson military wife and former resident of Washington, D.C., reflected on how the march spurred her to action, before and now.

"The last week or so I've been contacting my local Rep. [David Joyce] and Sen. [Rob] Portman," she said of her Republican members of Congress. "I let both ... know that I was going [to the march] and why. It wasn't about the election results; it was about the path Congress would be taking.

"And now I realize I need to focus more on the state level," she said.

She's increasingly concerned about recent steps by Ohio state lawmakers to restrict reproductive rights and defund Planned Parenthood, which provides pregnancy prevention education and, to a lesser degree though outsized in media coverage, abortion.

There are nearly as many abortion bills lined up in state legislatures across the nation as there are states. Already women in major Ohio cities have limited access to medical abortions. Women's protest signs with coat hangers illustrated the fear among women and men that the procedure could take a more dangerous step backward.

Ohio and about 14 other states have passed 20-week bans. Ohio also has blocked federal aid from reaching Planned Parenthood clinics, including those that do not perform abortions.

"If you're going to be anti-abortion, you have to cut down on pregnancy," said Beall, who also plans to let state leadership know that she's unhappy with the "lack of accountability" for tax dollars heading to privately run charter schools.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .

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