Ohio voters added reproductive rights to the state constitution Tuesday by passing Issue 1, as the pro-choice movement continued its post-Dobbs winning streak.
45 initiative, labeled the Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative, led by 55% to 41% with about 85% of the vote counted, and major news organizations called the race around 9 p.m.
The measure says the state “shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” individuals seeking abortions, contraception, and other reproductive-related medical services.
Abortion may be limited after fetal viability, or about 22 weeks’ gestation, but any post-viability restrictions may be overridden by the treating doctor “to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health,” the latter of which typically includes mental health.
Jor-El Godsey, president of the pro-life group Heartbeat International, said after the outcome was declared that “Big Abortion won, while women, parents, and babies lost.”
“Women lost common-sense protections. Parents have lost the ability to be involved in a key, and dangerous, component of their child’s medical and emotional health. And babies have been denied their bodily autonomy to grow as God intended,” he said.
Celebrating the win were pro-choice advocates such as Indivisible managing director Mari Urbina, who said the result “demonstrates the enduring belief in reproductive freedom” and predicted more victories in 2024.
“As we head into the 2024 election cycle, we’re taking notes from this win in Ohio,” she said. “Now we look ahead to Arizona and so many other battlegrounds where voters will be the firewall for our democracy.”
Issue 1 is the seventh state to vote on an abortion-related measure since the Dobbs decision. The pro-choice side had been victorious in each of the previous six state elections.
As a state constitutional amendment, Issue 1 would take precedence over Ohio’s current abortion law banning most abortions after 22 weeks’ gestation, as well as a heartbeat law pending in the courts.
The state’s law requiring parental consent for those under 18 could also be in jeopardy.
The amendment would also tie the hands of the Republican-controlled state legislature and GOP Gov. Mike DeWine when it comes to passing limits on abortion access.
Both sides of the campaign combined spent more than $70 million, making the campaign the most expensive abortion-related fight since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson undid the federal constitutional right to abortion and sent decision-making back to the states.
The pro-choice side raised $41 million, led by Democratic megadonors such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund and George Soros’ Open Society Policy Center, while the pro-life camp collected $29 million, led by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the Concord Fund.
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said that “Issue 1 passed because abortion activists and outside Democrat donors ran a campaign of fear to Ohio voters: vote for this ballot measure or women will die.”
“Their pervasive lie that women will die without Issue 1 was propped up by massive ad spending, funded by George Soros and a left-wing media machine which operated like Planned Parenthood’s PR department,” she said.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio tweeted: “Abortion access is now the law of the land in Ohio! Ohioans can rest easy knowing that we will never again be denied timely medical care.”
Mr. DeWine campaigned against the measure, saying it was “just not right for Ohio,” while Democratic heavyweights like former President Barack Obama urged voters to “protect abortion rights by making them part of your state Constitution.”
Ohio voters defeated a ballot measure backed by pro-life groups in August that would have raised the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%.
Source:Washington Times
