Building a Statewide Movement for Reproductive Freedom

BACKGROUND

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the fight over abortion rights moved back to the states.

Ohio was already passing some of the country’s most restrictive abortion laws, including a six-week abortion ban. With Republicans controlling state government and little possibility of legislative action, reproductive rights advocates turned to one of the few remaining options: a citizen-led amendment to the Ohio Constitution.

A small group of physicians formed Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and began the enormous task of building a statewide campaign. In only a few months, they needed to collect roughly 700,000 signatures to ensure they met the state’s requirement of approximately 400,000 valid signatures to qualify for the November 2023 ballot.

They needed to quickly build a recognizable brand, recruit thousands of volunteers, raise money, and create the infrastructure necessary to support a statewide petition drive.

CATALYST

Catalyst helped develop ProtectChoiceOhio into a modern campaign identity and digital organizing platform designed around one goal: turning public support for reproductive freedom into action.

We created ProtectChoiceOhio.com and #ProtectChoiceOhio along with a distinctive spearmint evergreen and fluorescent pink visual identity that stood apart from traditional political and reproductive rights branding.

The website was built as an acquisition and organizing tool rather than simply an informational site. Catalyst developed the volunteer and supporter infrastructure, petition-drive resource center, event and endorsement pages, fundraising tools, and rapid-response landing pages needed to support a fast-growing statewide campaign.

As the campaign evolved, we continuously optimized the site and supporter funnel. A new website interstitial alone tripled signups while directing supporters toward petition gathering and fundraising.

Catalyst also developed rapid-response creative designed to turn breaking news into organizing opportunities. Within 24 hours of a federal court ruling threatening access to mifepristone, we launched an animated campaign built around three simple ideas: Dobbs. Mifepristone. Fight Back. The creative spread through social media, text messages, supporter networks, and paid advertising while driving volunteers and low-dollar donors to the campaign.

OUTCOME

ProtectChoiceOhio helped turn a physician-led effort into a recognizable statewide campaign, building the early brand, digital infrastructure, volunteer recruitment, fundraising, and organizing tools needed to move the amendment toward the ballot.

On November 7, 2023, Ohio voters approved Issue 1 by 56.8% to 43.2%—a margin of more than 530,000 votes. The amendment enshrined reproductive freedom, including abortion rights, directly into the Ohio Constitution.

The victory was especially significant in a Republican-controlled state that had enacted a six-week abortion ban. Ohio demonstrated that reproductive rights could win decisively when voters were given the opportunity to decide the issue directly.

What began with a small group of physicians grew into a statewide movement that changed Ohio’s constitution—and helped establish a powerful post-Dobbs model for winning reproductive rights battles: build trusted messengers, create strong grassroots infrastructure, mobilize voters around freedom and individual rights, and take the question directly to the people.

End Presidential Revenge

BACKGROUND

In April 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order directing federal agencies to investigate Miles Taylor, the former Department of Homeland Security official who revealed himself in 2020 as the anonymous author of a 2018 New York Times op-ed criticizing Trump’s leadership.

The action represented an extraordinary escalation: using the power of the federal government to target a private citizen for previous political dissent. Legal experts condemned the move as retaliatory and unconstitutional, while Taylor faced growing threats to his safety, livelihood, and legal security.

But the threat extended beyond one individual. Whistleblowers, former government officials, attorneys, journalists, nonprofit leaders, and others who challenged presidential power could potentially face similar retaliation. Taylor’s case underscored the need for both an immediate legal defense and a broader effort to protect those targeted for speaking out.

CATALYST

Catalyst Campaigns worked with Miles Taylor to identify the fastest and most credible way to respond. Instead of creating a new organization and duplicating infrastructure, Catalyst partnered with Whistleblower Aid, an established 501(c)(3) already defending whistleblowers and democratic institutions, to provide the legal and nonprofit framework for the effort.

Together, the partners launched the End Presidential Revenge legal defense fund, creating a vehicle to help cover legal and security expenses for Taylor and others facing federal retaliation.

Moving quickly in response to the escalating threat, Catalyst developed the campaign’s brand, messaging, digital strategy, and website. EndPresidentialRevenge.org was designed, developed, and launched in less than a week, giving the effort an immediate public identity and a central platform for educating the public, building support, and raising resources.

The campaign turned Taylor’s individual experience into a broader call to defend Americans targeted for speaking out, built around a straightforward democratic principle: No president should be able to weaponize the federal government to punish perceived enemies.

OUTCOME

End Presidential Revenge transformed an unprecedented act of retaliation against Miles Taylor into a broader effort to defend whistleblowers, dissent, and the rule of law.

By bringing together Taylor, Whistleblower Aid, and other allies around a shared campaign, Catalyst helped establish the legal defense fund, create a recognizable public identity, and build a digital platform capable of generating awareness and financial support.

The effort demonstrated how strategic partnerships, existing organizational infrastructure, and rapid campaign development can provide an immediate response to a political crisis while creating a foundation to support others who may face similar retaliation.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Branding & Messaging • Coalition Building • Digital Strategy • Fundraising Strategy • Partnership Development • Strategic Communications • Website Development

Catalyst Campaigns worked with Artists United for Change and Robin Bell to commission the nation’s leading visual artists to create fact-checked and thought-provoking art to be displayed in key neighborhoods in critical battleground cities throughout Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and later Ohio, and North Carolina. 

Catalyst Campaigns donated six months of work to incubate this campaign, developed the online and offline fundraising strategies and facilitated all organizational outreach to local partners in the battleground states. 

The campaign assembled critically acclaimed artists – many with roots in key battleground states — including Shepard Fairey (creator of the iconic Obama “Hope” poster), University of Michigan alum Nekisha Durrett, Pennsylvania native Nate Lewis, award-winning children’s book illustrators Rafael Lopez, Robert Russell, Rob Sheridan (Nine Inch Nails visual designer), Swoon (Caledonia Curry), Claudio Martinez of Milwaukee, Justin Hampton and Detroit-native Antonio “Shades” Agee.

Catalyst Campaigns also contacted local organizations and shipped thousands of posters, stickers, t-shirts, and masks to North Carolina (Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Wilmington); Michigan (Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Pontiac, and Detroit); Ohio (Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown); Wisconsin (Milwaukee); Arizona (Phoenix) and Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia).

The art focuses on some of President Trump’s most offensive actions like gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op and his failures on issues like the Coronavirus pandemic, family separation, putting migrant children in cages, inciting police brutality, and racism. The jarring images are overlaid with some of the most reprehensible statements made by Trump and his allies.

Scott Goodstein was the lead digital advisor on the Bernie 2016 campaign that shepherded the team through the campaign’s launch, visual identity, initial staffing, and website development in under two weeks. 

Goodstein also co-founded Artists for Bernie as a division of the campaign, where artists and musicians could assist the campaign through appearances, collaborations, social media mentions, and more. 

Goodstein led his team to achieve innovations in online advertising, groundbreaking fundraising records, and advancements in mobile technology. He further assisted Bernie 2016 by creating and running the only online store that sold 100% union-made-in-America merchandise.