Toledo City Council should set aside the proposal for spending money to transport women seeking abortions and avoid an unnecessary community dispute.
The proposal was a parting shot from At-Large Councilman Michele Grim, who will be moving on shortly to take her seat in the state House of Representatives, and two other council members, Nick Komives and Theresa Gadus.
It calls for appropriating $100,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund, or “Aggie Fund,” which provides transportation and other services to women in need of abortion care.
When it came up for a hearing, three councilmen — Vanice Williams, Tiffany Preston Whitman, and Cerssandra McPherson — objected that the matter was rushed and that the public had only two days’ notice to consider it.
Ms. Williams rightly raised the question whether it is a proper use of the ARPA funds. This proposal is in no way similar to council’s previous vote to allocate money to pay down medical-related debt.
The American Rescue Plan Act easily fits with the innovative use of dollars to buy down debt through RIP Medical Debt, restoring buying power to 41,000 residents and improving the economic ecosystem for Toledo and Lucas County.
Transporting women for abortion does nothing that could be considered within an economic rescue plan.
The RIP deal was easy to support from a conservative point of view, because of the huge leverage on the benefit side.
If $1.6 million can eliminate $200 million to $240 million in unpayable debts, the economic prospects of the community will be greatly improved.
There is no way to make a conservative case for Aggie Fund use. It is a provocation to people who feel strongly on the pro-life side of abortion and works against cohesiveness in the community and the nation.
We were strongly supportive of the RIP innovation, convinced that it would be widely copied and show Toledo as an innovative city leading the way on widespread improvements.
The Aggie Fund would put Toledo at the forefront of a bitter moral debate, using federal funds in a way that brands Toledo as reckless financially and tone deaf on what is necessary to rescue America.
Toledo council should be looking for ways to spend the federal windfall that attract new individuals, new families, and, yes, new children to Toledo, not to hasten the further reduction of the population, which has been declining for decades.
We need all the people we can get to rescue Toledo-Ohio-America.
We have too few people coming up the generational ladder to fill the positions needed to maintain the economy, let alone grow the economy.
This idea, unlike RIP, is counterproductive to the concept of ARPA.
There are many resources in this community to assist women bringing children into the world, whether they choose to keep the child and raise it or give it up for adoption.
If this is the concern of Toledo City Council, then it might allocate the $100,000 to a fund that will provide assistance to women experiencing financial hardship because of having a child.
The better method for Aggie fund supporters is to raise private dollars.
The $100,000 they propose should not be hard to raise if the need is so great and it will come without dispute, or negative impressions for Toledo.
First Published December 29, 2022, 5:00 a.m.
