Ohio voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment that provides access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, becoming the seventh state where voters have decided to protect abortion access following a landmark US Supreme Court ruling.
The results of a tense year-end election could be decisive in 2024. Democrats hope a resolution on the issue will help President Joe Biden retain the White House. Voters in Arizona, Missouri and other states are expected to vote on similar protection measures next year.
Ohio’s constitutional amendment, on the ballot as Issue 1, included some of the most protective language on abortion access among all the initiatives. Opponents argued that the amendment would jeopardise parental rights, allow unlimited gender-specific surgeries for minors and revive “partial-birth” abortions banned at the federal level.
Public polls indicate that about two-thirds of Americans believe abortion should be legal in the earliest stages of pregnancy. That view has been emphasised in both Democratic and deeply Republican states since the justices overturned Roe in June 2022.
Prior to the Ohio vote, state initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont either affirmed abortion access or cracked down on attempts to undermine rights.
Voters demonstrated high turnout in a vote on an amendment to Ohio’s constitution. Approval of Issue 1 would almost certainly overturn a state law passed by Republicans in 2019 that bans most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, with no exceptions for rape and incest.
The law, currently on hold due to litigation, is one of about two dozen abortion restrictions passed by the Ohio Legislature in recent years.
Issue 1 specifically proclaimed the right of the individual to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including birth control, fertility treatment, miscarriage and abortion. This allowed the state to regulate the procedure, with exceptions for cases where a doctor determined that a woman’s “life or health” was in danger.
Anti-abortion groups backed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine tested a variety of ideas in an attempt to defeat the amendment. The pro-choice campaign focused on a call to keep the government out of the private affairs of families.
The latest vote followed an August special election called by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which sought to make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments by raising the threshold from a simple majority vote to 60 per cent. The proposal was aimed partly at undermining the abortion rights measure passed on Tuesday.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the special election issue, setting the stage for a high-stakes abortion campaign in the autumn.
