Voters in blue states, swing states and even the reddest of states have made clear they want abortion rights protected.
by Lauren Rankin, Truthout
On Tuesday night, the movement for reproductive rights continued its winning streak with a decisive win for Issue 1 in Ohio, which enshrines the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. With more than 95 percent of the votes in, Issue 1 passed with 56.6 percent of the vote. Now, a state in which Republicans have routinely been at the forefront of restricting and banning abortion will be forced by its own constitution to protect this most basic right, and all because the voters of Ohio said so. Every Ohioan now has a constitutional right to abortion care.
Abortion opponents in Ohio employed numerous subterfuge tactics to defeat Issue 1, from attempting to raise the threshold to pass a ballot initiative from 50 percent to 60 percent (which failed), to putting deliberately confusing language on the ballot. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine put forth an astoundingly deceitful ad with his wife, Fran. In it, she claims that Issue 1 would “allow an abortion at any time during a pregnancy, and it would deny parents the right to be involved when their daughter is making the most important decision of her life,” both of which are patently untrue. Ohio law already requires minors to get parental consent to have an abortion, and Issue 1 only allows abortions after fetal viability if the pregnant person’s doctor determines it is medically necessary to protect their life.
In a statement, Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, said, “Ohioans rejected disinformation and fear and voted instead to ensure that every Ohioan has access to the reproductive health care they need here in our state.”
Ohio is a unique state in which to test public support for abortion rights. Long considered a swing state, it has taken a decidedly conservative turn in recent years. Ohio still has a Democrat representing it in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Sherrod Brown, but the state hasn’t had a Democratic governor since 2011. The past two Republican administrations — current Governor DeWine, and former Gov. John Kasich — have been decidedly hostile to abortion rights. As governor, Kasich signed a 20-week abortion ban, a bill mandating medically-unnecessary ultrasounds and a targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) law that successfully forced clinics to close. DeWine picked up where Kasich left off, signing a six-week abortion ban in 2019, putting Ohio at the forefront of draconian abortion bans.
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