Ohio prepares to accept or reject abortion access in its constitution: what you need to know
On November 7, citizens will vote on Issue 1, summarized as “the right to reproductive freedom with protections for health and safety.”
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On November 7, Ohio voters will go to the polls to decide on abortion access in their state. Once they enter the voting center, they must approve or reject Issue 1, titled in this case as the “right to reproductive freedom with protections for health and safety.” If approved, it would codify miscarriage and abortion under the banner of “reproductive decisions.”
How did this arrive at the polls? After the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) annulled Roe Vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, local activists began organizing a signature-gathering campaign to bring the issue to a vote.
In August of this year, they achieved their goal by delivering 496,000 valid signatures to the local Secretary of State and now Senate candidate Frank LaRose. Since the minimum requirement of 413,446 signatures was obtained, the vote was scheduled for November.
“Out-of-touch politicians are relentlessly attacking women’s fundamental rights, intervening in women’s personal medical decisions, and laying the groundwork for a complete ban on abortion in Ohio,” said Elizabeth Walters, chairwoman of the Ohio Democratic Party at the time.
What’s in Issue 1?
The constitutional amendment is quite similar to the one recently passed in Michigan and states the following:
- Every Ohioan has the right to make their own reproductive decisions, including contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy, miscarriage, and abortion.
- The State cannot tax, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against an Ohioan’s decision to exercise his or her reproductive rights.
- Abortion can be prohibited after fetal viability but cannot be prohibited if a doctor deems the procedure necessary to protect the life or health of the patient.
- Fetal viability is defined as the point in pregnancy at which a doctor considers the fetus to have a “significant chance of surviving outside the womb with reasonable measures” and is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Protect Women Ohio’s initiative for Hispanic voters
In their own words, Protect Women Ohio is a “coalition of leaders” who are practically focused on ensuring that Issue 1 does not pass in November. To this end, they are carrying out advertising and awareness campaigns. One of them, called “A lo bestia,” targets the state’s Hispanic community.
The ad will be broadcast on several Hispanic radio stations in Ohio and will have wide distribution through digital platforms.
“Ohio voters cannot allow such an extreme pro-abortion agenda to be imposed on the state. The vast majority of civilized countries do not allow the type of extreme abortion that is sought to be imposed in Issue 1,” said Alfonso Aguilar, advisor to Protect Women Ohio and president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.
“Hispanics in Ohio oppose abortion, and that is why it is important that they go out and vote against the dangerous and late abortions proposed in Issue 1,” he stated.
Voters rejected making abortion access more difficult to codify
State Republicans set a previous referendum for August, which sought to tighten the requirements for amending the state constitution. However, it was rejected with 57% of the votes.
Voters voted for August’s Issue 1 (not November’s), which was intended to create a constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult to pass future amendments, setting a threshold of 60% of the vote to pass. Since that change was rejected, 50% plus one of the votes is still required.
Following voter rejection of August’s Issue 1, LaRose regretted his choice, warning that “Ohioans will see the devastating impact of this vote soon enough.”
“The radical activists that opposed Issue 1 are already planning amendments to shut parents out of a child’s life-altering medical procedure, force job killing wage mandates on small businesses, prevent law abiding citizens from protecting their families and remove critical protections for our first responders. I’ve said for months now that there’s an assault coming on our constitution, and that hasn’t changed,” he expressed at the time.
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