Ballot-Initiative Battle: Ohio Pro-Lifers Face Abortion Groups' Push to Enshrine Abortion in the State Constitution

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% : The groups behind the amendment include Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which are coming off successes they had in the 2022 midterm elections in adding language ensuring abortion access to the state Constitutions of California, Michigan and Vermont.
51% :Peter Range, CEO of Ohio Right to Life, noted that the language of "health," where abortion past viability is permitted, is a broad definition from the 1973 Supreme Court decision Doe v. Bolton, which includes "all factors, physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the women's age relevant to the well-being of the mother."
50% : As pro-life battles have largely shifted to the states a little over a year out from the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the latest showdown will be in Ohio, where abortion groups are pushing an amendment to the state Constitution that would ensure virtually unlimited access to abortion.
47% : Many will be watching its outcome closely, as abortion advocates plan similar efforts to add abortion to state constitutions in 11 states in 2024, including Florida, South Dakota and Missouri.
45% : The amendment would add language to the Ohio Constitution, stating that "every individual has a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion."
43% : While the vote on the amendment regarding abortion will be affected by the August election, she said that what the election "is really about is protecting Ohio's Constitution from outside groups.
40% :Natoce also raised concerns about the amendment eliminating the state's existing laws if they are deemed a "burden" to abortion access, including its limit on abortion to 22 weeks, parental-consent requirements, and its abortion provider health and safety standards.
39% : He highlighted Planned Parenthood and the ACLU's argument in court cases in Indiana and Alaska that parental-consent laws created "an unconstitutional undue burden on unemancipated minors."
38% : While the amendment states that "abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability," it also specifies that "in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient's life or health."
34% : He told the Register that, in the past 20 years, Ohio has gone from being a more divided state politically to more Republican, and outside groups "who do not like what is happening in the legislature or in the executive branch have decided, 'we'll just go try to change the Constitution instead.'""We have folks who make a lot of money performing abortions, like Planned Parenthood; that's why they want that enshrined," he said, but he added that the issue is not only about abortion and referenced the 2009 amendment to the state Constitution, which authorized casinos to come in, as well as more recent efforts to legalize marijuana in the state Constitution.

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