Ohio set to be center of abortion battle this fall
Voters will decide by ballot initiative whether protections for reproductive rights will be added to the state constitution.
Advocates for abortion rights in Ohio took a major step toward getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot, setting the state up as a potential battleground for reproductive rights this fall.
Pro-abortion-rights groups said they submitted more than 700,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday, nearly double the required 413,446 signatures. The government has until July 25 to verify the signatures and make sure they’re legitimate. Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, the umbrella organization of abortion rights advocates aligned with the ACLU, called it a “historic day.”
“We cannot thank our volunteers enough for this herculean grassroots effort to ensure patients and doctors, not government extremists, are in control of making private medical decisions,” the group said in a statement. Supporters have said they’re planning to spend $35 million on the campaign.
In response to the signatures being submitted, Protect Women Ohio, an anti-abortion group opposing the initiative, called the ballot measure an “extreme anti-parent amendment” and an attempt by the ACLU to “hijack Ohio’s constitution.”
"As goes Ohio, so goes the rest of the nation," said Mike Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, an anti-abortion group.
What the measure would do
If it makes the ballot and is approved by voters, the amendment would enshrine reproductive rights in the Ohio constitution by adding a section stating that every person has a right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.” The language has already been approved by the state’s Ballot Board and Republican attorney general.
Abortion in Ohio currently remains legal until 22 weeks of pregnancy. And while a six-week “heartbeat bill” ban went into effect last June after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it was blocked temporarily by a state judge. The Ohio Supreme Court, however, could opt to reinstate the ban.
During the period between the ban being enacted and blocked, a 10-year-old Ohio girl traveled to Indiana for an abortion in a case that drew nationwide attention. On Wednesday, her rapist was sentenced to life in prison with a chance at parole after 25 years.
An October poll from Baldwin Wallace University found that 59% of Ohio voters supported making abortion access a fundamental right for the state’s residents.
GOP legislature pushes back
Depending on the results of an August special election, 59% might not be enough to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. While state law in Ohio currently requires a simple majority of voters to approve a ballot measure, the Republican-dominated state Legislature is attempting to push through a ballot measure of their own that would raise that threshold to 60%.
The Ohio Ballot Board approved the measure in May after a long partisan fight that’s in line with Republican efforts to thwart ballot initiatives elsewhere in the country. Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that officials needed to rewrite inaccurate and misleading information in the proposed amendment set to be decided in an Aug. 8 special election that is estimated to cost the state $20 million.
In addition to raising the bar to 60%, the measure known as Issue 1 would also make it more difficult to get a measure on the ballot in the first place, doubling the amount of counties signatures need to be collected from to 88 from the current 44.
A string of wins for reproductive rights
Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe a year ago, politicians and organizations pushing for abortion access have found success in swing elections and even some states where Republicans typically dominate at the ballot box. The first sign came in August 2022, when voters in Kansas soundly rejected a ballot initiative that would have weakened protections for abortion rights in the state constitution.
While Democrats narrowly lost the House in November, the 2022 midterms went historically well for a party that controls the presidency due to a focus on the issue. Some Republican contenders in competitive races scrambled to walk back their anti-abortion positions, and ballot measures expanding or protecting reproductive rights were successful. Across Ohio’s eastern border, Democrats were successful in Pennsylvania, comfortably holding the governor’s seat and flipping the only Senate race of the cycle in campaigns that were centered on abortion.
The wins continued in 2023, with the Virginia Senate staying in Democratic control following a special election victory and a liberal judge in Wisconsin flipping a state Supreme Court seat following a pricey campaign that put abortion at the forefront.
Despite these losses, Republicans have continued to push anti-abortion measures, with former president and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump recently endorsing the idea of national abortion restrictions.
