Two groups join forces to put abortion access on Ohio’s 2023 ballot
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Two groups pushing to enshrine abortion access in the Ohio Constitution announced Thursday that they’ll work together to put the issue on the November ballot.
The decision to collaborate eliminates a potentially messy scenario where Ohioans could have been forced to vote on two separate abortion proposals. By streamlining the effort, advocates for abortion access say they plan to file language next week.
“We are united in purpose and by the belief that placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2023 is both a moral imperative and offers the best prospects for success,” said Dr. Lauren Beene, executive director of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights.
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The two groups include:
The language will be simple and modeled off what recently passed in Michigan, advocates say. The Michigan constitutional amendment, approved by 57% of voters in November, stated that “every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
Abortion opponents have promised to fight any measure to enshrine abortion access in the Ohio Constitution.
“Not only will we defeat any attempt to place late-term abortions in our state constitution, we will also demonstrate yet again that Ohioans support common-sense policies that help pregnant women have healthy pregnancies,” Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said. “Today we stand with Ohio families in all 88 counties to protect our freedoms from out-of-state special interests.”
Current Ohio law, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019, bans nearly all abortions by preventing doctors from performing the procedure after cardiac activity is detected. That law is currently on hold, blocked by a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to weigh in.
The first step to making the ballot is submitting language signed by 1,000 voters to Yost’s office. He then determines if the proposed language is “fair and truthful.” After that:
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Two groups join forces to put abortion access on Ohio’s 2023 ballot