Ohio abortion rights issue: Fall race looks to be expensive, fueled by out-of-state money

The fall campaign over abortion access in Ohio has barely begun, but early financial reports foreshadow an expensive fight fueled by out-of-state heavy hitters.

Last week, a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution made Ohio's Nov. 7 ballot after proponents submitted enough valid signatures. No other state is voting on abortion rights this year, setting up an expensive battle in the Buckeye State.

Shortly after proponents made the ballot, several Republicans filed a legal challenge, asking the Ohio Supreme Court to kick the issue off. The lawsuit said the abortion rights campaign had made a mistake on the petitions it circulated. Attorneys for the campaign disagreed, saying the law Republicans cited violated the Ohio Constitution.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on an Aug. 8 election where voters will decide if it should be harder to amend the Ohio Constitution. Issue 1 would raise the threshold needed to change the constitution from a simple majority to 60% of the vote − making it that much harder for the abortion rights measure to pass.

More: You asked, we answered: What Ohioans need to know about the August election on Issue 1

Issue 1 has become a proxy right, of sorts, for the abortion battle brewing later in the year. That means abortion opponents have spent more than $8 million for ads backing the August amendment. Abortion rights proponents, meanwhile, spent $6.65 million on a signature collection firm to ensure they made the November ballot.

Monday's financial forms offered a peek into how each side of the abortion measure was raising and spending money about three months before the Nov. 7 election.

Proponents of the abortion rights measure

How much did they raise? Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom raised $8.5 million in the first half of the year. That group includes the "traditional" abortion rights advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Ohio Women’s Alliance, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Preterm-Cleveland, Pro-Choice Ohio and Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE).

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, a newer group founded by doctors, raised $1.16 million during that time.

How much did they spend? Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom spent $7.5 million, including $6.65 million on a professional signature collection firm and about $379,500 on signature validation to ensure the effort made the November ballot.

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights spent nearly $967,000 on expenses ranging from campaign staff and consultants to ads and polling. Both groups paid attorney Don McTigue, who is representing the campaign.

How much do they have in the bank? Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom reported just over $1 million on hand. The physicians' group had nearly $547,000.

Who were the top donors? The American Civil Liberties Union donated $1.95 million between its national and Ohio-based affiliate to Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom; Planned Parenthood and its affiliates gave $1.82 million; the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a progressive "dark-money" group, gave $1.25 million; Oklahoma philanthropist Lynn Schusterman donated $1 million; and Illinois' Democratic Gov. J. B. Pritzker gave $250,000 to the abortion rights measure.

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights' largest donors were two doctors who performed abortions. Dr. Martin Haskell and Dr. David Burkons, donated $100,000 and $61,000, respectively.

Where do donors live? Donors from the Washington, D.C., area comprised 31.2% of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom's donors, followed by about 25.6% from Ohio-based contributors and 25.5% from New York.

Nearly all of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights' donors, 92.7%, were from Ohioans or Ohio organizations.

Opponents of the abortion rights measure

How much did they raise? Protect Women Ohio, which opposes the ballot measure, raised $9.74 million in the first half of the year.

Protect Women Ohio Action Inc. − an allied group working to pass Issue 1 in August and oppose the abortion rights amendment − raised $5.2 million from two sources. Both organizations filed campaign finance reports last week along with other groups spending money on Issue 1.

How much did they spend? Protect Women Ohio spent $8.68 million, including $6.35 million on broadcast ads and $1.68 million on digital ads backing Issue 1. Protect Women Ohio Action Inc. spent more than $3.5 million, including $3 million it gave to Protect Women Ohio.

How much do they have in the bank? Protect Women Ohio reported $1.06 million on hand. Protect Women Ohio Action Inc. reported nearly $1.64 million on hand.

Who were the top donors? Protect Women Ohio's top donor was Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the preeminent national anti-abortion organization, which gave $6.14 million. Ohio's Catholic dioceses donated $900,000 collectively and "right-to-life" groups donated nearly $87,000.

Top individual donors included JTM Food Group's Jack Jr., Jerry and Tony Maas; former TransDigm Group Inc. CFO Greg Rufus and his wife; and Heartbeat International Chairwoman Margaret "Peggy" Hartshorn.

Protect Women Ohio Action Inc. had two donors: The Concord Fund, a conservative "dark-money" organization, gave $5 million and the Susan B. Anthony group donated the remaining $200,000.

The Concord Fund, previously called the Judicial Crisis Network, is linked to The Federalist Society's Leonard Leo. Two attorneys with the Judicial Crisis Network penned an early legal analysis of the Ohio abortion measure, calling it "disastrous" and a threat to the state's parental consent law.

Where do donors live?

About 83.6% of Protect Women Ohio's contributions came from the Washington, D.C., area and 16.4% came from Ohio donors and groups. Donations from other states comprised less than 1% of contributions.

Protect Women Ohio Action Inc.'s donors were not based in Ohio.

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio abortion rights measure: Early reports foreshadow expensive fight