CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Andrea Fahey is a familiar face at the Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Cuyahoga Falls. She has volunteered there for several years. 

 “[We] escort patients in, escort patients out,” Fahey explained of her role as a clinic escort. “That is basically the entire gist of it.” 

The center is one of only a handful of facilities in Ohio that performs abortions, and it attracts daily protesters to the sidewalks in front of the building.

“The signs that they hold are frequently graphic, and if not graphic, they are, at the very least, unnecessary,” she explained. “So, the umbrellas are to block that.” 

As a transgender woman, Fahey said she will never need to use a clinic like this one, but she wants to support those who do. 

“I would never wish to go through this, but I’m incapable of even considering that as a possibility,” she reflected. “It is important to me that people who are stuck in a situation where they are, and they ended up there against their will, or are not in a situation to be able to handle it, have the ability to make the decisions they want to make in regards to that.” 

While abortion has been under recent political scrutiny, Fahey explained that it’s similar to laws being proposed around the LGBTQ+ community.

“They are trying to block HRT (hormone replacement therapy). They are trying to block puberty blockers. They are trying to block so many medical procedures for trans individuals, both youth and adults,” she explained. “It is the same net goal of restricting people's access and control over their own bodies."

When she isn’t volunteering at the clinic, Fahey devotes her time to her nonprofit, Spectrum Diversity Community Center and is prepping for the Akron Pride Festival in August.