Conservatives Are Spending Millions To Ban Abortion In Ohio

Leo’s dark money network has spent $18 million opposing the campaign to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution.

by Andrew Perez, The Lever

Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo’s dark money network has spent $18 million trying to block a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution — accounting for nearly 60 percent of what abortion opponents have reported raising in advance of the November 7 election, according to new state campaign finance data.

As President Donald Trump’s judicial adviser, Leo built the conservative Supreme Court supermajority that overturned federal protections for abortion rights last year, allowing states to ban the procedure. Now, we’re seeing how much Leo — the beneficiary of a historic $1.6 billion dark money donation — will spend in order to restrict abortion access at the state level.

“Leonard Leo has spent his entire career working to end abortion access at all levels of government, stripping millions of women of their critical rights and freedoms,” said Caroline Ciccone, president of the liberal watchdog group Accountable.US. “Leo leveraging his billion-dollar network to meddle in this election has dangerous, life-altering repercussions for Ohioans and Americans everywhere.”