Ohio Activists React as Abortion Measure Makes It to November Ballot

Ohio voters will decide in November whether the right to an abortion should be enshrined in the state constitution, after state officials said that proponents had submitted enough signatures to put the question on the ballot.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced on Tuesday that Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights submitted almost 496,000 valid signatures, clearing the hurdle to put the amendment before voters on November 7.

The proposed amendment would establish that "every individual has a right to make and carry out one's reproductive decisions," but allow the procedure to be prohibited after the fetus is viable outside the womb, typically around 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy. Polling has found a majority of Ohio voters broadly support abortion rights.

The proposal follows others around the nation in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that protected abortion rights, shifting the battle over abortion to the states.

However, Republicans state lawmakers are seeking to make the amendment harder to pass. They have set a special election next month to decide on whether to raise the threshold of voters required to amend the state constitution from a simple majority to 60 percent.

"Every person deserves respect, dignity, and the right to make reproductive health care decisions, including those related to their own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion free from government interference," Lauren Blauvelt and Dr. Lauren Beene, executive committee members of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

"Now that the petition drive is complete, we're eager to continue the campaign to enshrine those rights in Ohio's Constitution and ensure that Ohioans will never again be subject to draconian reproductive health care policies imposed by extremists."

The statement added that sponsors of the August special election "have admitted it was placed on the ballot for one reason: to silence the voices of the vast majority of Ohioans who support reproductive rights and abortion access."

Meanwhile, Ohio's anti-abortion network has signaled it is ready to launch a fierce opposition campaign, and urged voters to make the amendment harder to pass by voting in the special election next month.

Opponents have called the measure "extreme" and have argued that it would permit abortion "until birth" and allow minors to receive abortions and undergo gender transition surgery without their parents' consent.

The amendment would allow Ohio to prohibit abortion later in pregnancy and makes no mention of gender transition surgery. The attorneys who wrote it say Ohio's parental consent law would not be affected.

"Ohioans are waking up to the dangers of the ACLU's anti-parent amendment and they are terrified—and rightfully so," Amy Natoce, the press secretary for Protect Ohio Women, the campaign against the abortion measure, said in a statement.

Natoce said the group will "continue to shine a light on the ACLU's disastrous agenda until it is defeated in November." The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is on the November campaign's executive committee and serves as part of Ohioans United For Reproductive Rights' legal team.

Peter Range, the chief executive of Ohio Right to Life, said: "Knowing the serious danger of this amendment and that these out-of-state special interest groups still have millions to spend to get it passed, it is even more imperative that every pro-life Ohioan votes yes on Issue 1 this August to ensure that our Constitution, our preborn, and our families are protected."

Abortion remains legal in Ohio up until 22 weeks of pregnancy, after a judge blocked the state's ban on abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks into pregnancy.

In the first statewide referendum on abortion since Roe's fall, voters in Kansas resoundingly chose to preserve abortion rights in their state last summer. Supporters of abortion rights also prevailed in five other states— California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont—where measures to either enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions or reject constitutional restrictions on abortion were put to voters. None of those measures received more than 60 percent of the vote.