President Biden is hailing Ohio voters for voting down an initiative that would have required 60% support for voter-driven changes to the state constitution instead of a simple majority.
GOP lawmakers pushed Issue 1 ahead of a November fight over a constitutional amendment that would bolster abortion access in the red-leaning state. Yet Buckeye State voters defeated it, 57% to 43%.
“This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions,” Mr. Biden said. “Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won.”
Ohio’s rejection of Issue 1 showed the enduring power of abortion rights as an electoral issue in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which opened the door to state restrictions.
Abortion is legal until 20 weeks into pregnancy in Ohio while a legal stay is in place against a six-week limit that was approved in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision.
Pro-choice groups believe the six-week threshold will be upheld down the road, so they are pushing the November measure to allow abortion around 24 weeks into pregnancy, the fetal-viability standard used in the 1973 Roe decision. Their constitutional amendment also leaves fetal viability up to the judgment of the pregnant patient’s doctor.
Voters in Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan voted in favor of abortion access last year, yet pro-choice groups feared GOP lawmakers found a way to blunt that momentum by raising the threshold for changes to 60% of voter support. They fell short, forcing pro-life groups to regroup.
“A broad coalition of passionate pro-life Ohioans came together to fight parental rights opponents and try to take victory from the jaws of defeat. But the silence of the establishment and business community in Ohio left a vacuum too large to overcome,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said after the vote tally.
The group warned that big-moneyed interests will play an outsized role in preserving and expanding abortion access.
“Sadly, attacks on state constitutions are now the national playbook of the extreme pro-abortion Left,” it said. “That is why everyone must take this threat seriously and recognize progressives will win if their opponents are scared into submission by the pro-abortion Left.”
Ohio Democrats, meanwhile, started fundraising for the November fight over abortion.
“Our work isn’t finished. On November 7, Ohioans face the next battle in the fight to protect abortion rights and will vote on a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom,” the party said in an email blast. “Now that we’ve defeated Issue 1, we have a real shot at passing it and enshrining reproductive rights into Ohio’s constitution.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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