Photo: Mary LeBus
Abortion is currently legal in Ohio up to 22 weeks.
On July 25, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed that abortion rights advocates submitted 495,938 valid petition signatures from a total of 55 counties in the state, fulfilling the percentage requirements for verification. The petition asked voters to sign in favor of an abortion rights amendment in the Ohio Constitution.
It's official
In a letter to Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR), a coalition of groups that collected signatures, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he will put the amendment on the ballot.
“Therefore, in the absence of judicial direction to the contrary, I will direct the boards of election to place the proposed amendment on the November 7, 2023, general election ballot,” LaRose wrote.
After the Dobbs decision last June, Ohio’s six-week abortion ban went into effect for about 11 weeks until a Hamilton County judge put a temporary restraining order on the bill. While the “heartbeat” bill has been held up in court, abortion has been legal in Ohio up until about 22 weeks gestation.
OURR was formed by Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights in February, 2023. The non-partisan group is leading the effort to place the “Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety” citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
OURR released a statement Tuesday following the certification news via the ACLU of Ohio, who represents the coalition.
“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,” OURR executive committee members Lauren Blauvelt and Dr. Lauren Beene said. “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.”
Ohio Right to Life's "Protect Women Ohio" (PWO) coalition, an anti-abortion group in the state, released a statement on Tuesday following the news about the amendment heading to the November ballot.
“Ohioans are waking up to the dangers of the ACLU’s anti-parent amendment and they are terrified – and rightfully so," PWO said. "The extreme amendment places parental rights on the chopping block by permitting minors to undergo abortions and sex change procedures without their parents’ knowledge or consent, removes health and safety protections for women, and allows painful abortion up until birth. PWO will continue to shine a light on the ACLU’s disastrous agenda until it is defeated in November.”
Past success
In January, the ACLU announced that Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom hired Mission Control Inc. to be the General Consultant to oversee campaign strategy for the initiative to place a measure on the ballot to amend the Ohio Constitution to protect abortion access for Ohioans. Mission Control Inc. is the same group that led campaigns for successful abortion protection ballot initiatives in Kansas and Kentucky during the 2022 election cycle.
A Suffolk University/Cincinnati Enquirer poll from June 2022 shows a majority of likely midterm voters in Ohio want to protect access to legal, safe abortions.
Of those polled, 53% wanted to protect abortion rights in Ohio, while 39% wanted the state legislature to restrict abortions.
As it stands, PEW research data shows 48% of Ohioans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, 47% said it should be illegal in all or most cases, and 4% were unsure.
Before you vote in November, vote in August
LaRose is one of the state's top Republicans who brought forward the special August election to try and pass Issue 1, which would make it harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. By raising the threshold of approval from 50% to 60%, the ballot issue would mean that a simple majority, or 50% plus one vote, would no longer be enough to amend the Ohio Constitution.
Passing Issue 1 would make it harder for Ohio voters to legalize abortion in November. Other initiatives that would be impacted include proposals on marijuana and raising the minimum wage.
At first, Ohio Republicans argued the change was to protect the state from outside interference. But, according to Ohio Capital Journal/WEWS, LaRose said during a May 22 Seneca County Lincoln Day dinner that Issue 1 is “100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution.”
Originally published by CityBeat, Scene's sister paper in Cincinnati.
