Ohio voters enshrine abortion access in constitution in latest statewide win for reproductive rights
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that ensures access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, the latest victory for abortion rights supporters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access after the landmark ruling and was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year.
The outcome of the intense, off-year election could be a bellwether for 2024, when Democrats hope the issue will energize their voters and help President Joe Biden keep the White House. Voters in Arizona, Missouri and elsewhere are expected to vote on similar protections next year.
Ohio鈥檚 constitutional amendment, on the ballot as Issue 1, included some of the most protective language for abortion access of any statewide ballot initiative since the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling. Opponents had argued that the amendment would threaten parental rights, allow unrestricted gender surgeries for minors and revive 鈥減artial birth鈥� abortions, which are federally banned.
Public polling shows about two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal in the earliest stages of pregnancy, a sentiment that has been underscored in both since the justices overturned Roe in June 2022.
Before the Ohio vote, statewide initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont had either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine the right.
Voter turnout for Ohio鈥檚 constitutional amendment, , was robust for an off-year election. Issue 1鈥檚 approval will all but certainly undo a 2019 state law passed by Republicans that bans most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, with no exceptions for rape and incest. That law, currently because of court challenges, is one of roughly two dozen restrictions on abortion the Ohio Legislature has passed in recent years.
Issue 1 specifically declared an individual鈥檚 right to 鈥渕ake and carry out one鈥檚 own reproductive decisions,鈥� including birth control, fertility treatments, miscarriage and abortion.
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It allowed the state to regulate the procedure after fetal viability, as long as exceptions were provided for cases in which a doctor determined the 鈥渓ife or health鈥� of the woman was at risk. Viability was defined as the point when the fetus had 鈥渁 significant likelihood of survival鈥� outside the womb, with reasonable interventions.
Anti-abortion groups, with the help of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, tested a to try to defeat the amendment, primarily focusing on the idea that the proposal was too extreme for the state. The supporters鈥� campaign centered on a message of keeping government out of families鈥� private affairs.
The latest vote followed an August special election called by the Republican-controlled Legislature that was aimed at making future constitutional changes harder to pass by increasing the threshold from a simple majority vote to 60%. That proposal was aimed in part at undermining the abortion-rights measure decided Tuesday.
Voters that special election question, setting the stage for the high-stakes fall abortion campaign.
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Associated Press writer Samantha Hendrickson in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, contributed to this report.