Ohio Votes On Including Abortion Access Into State Constitution

The state of Ohio voted on a ballot measure to incorporate an amendment in its constitution to guarantee abortion access.

According to Decision Desk HQ, Issue 1, ‘reproduction decisions amendment,’ is expected to pass.

With 87% reporting, the vote is 55.56% yes to 44.44% no.

“The proposed constitutional amendment would protect access to abortion up until fetal viability, with exceptions for the life and health of the patient beyond that point,” The Hill reports.

“It’s the first time that abortion rights advocates have been able to pass abortion protections in a state that’s trended increasingly red in recent years,” the outlet added.

BREAKING: Ohio has passed Issue 1 to allow killing babies in abortions up to birth. But we will never stop fighting to protect the lives of unborn children! https://t.co/G62VmMa7xp pic.twitter.com/X4V4lqTPyu

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) November 8, 2023

🚨🚨 BREAKING:

Issue 1 in Ohio just PASSED.

This will dramatically alter the state's constitution to enshire the right to abortion, even if the baby is viable, up until the moment of birth.

Today is a sad day for unborn life in Ohio.

— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) November 8, 2023

The Hill reports:

Abortion is legal up until 22 weeks, while the Ohio Supreme Court is weighing a six-week ban that is on hold right now. Ohio became a flashpoint after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year when a 10-year-old rape victim was forced to travel out of state to receive access to the medical procedure.

Earlier in the summer, the state held an August special election where voters weighed a separate proposed constitutional amendment that would have required the threshold for voters to amend the state constitution to jump from a simple majority to 60 percent. The special election garnered bipartisan criticism and came just months ahead of the November election, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.

Had it passed, it would have made it harder for abortion rights advocates to pass their own ballot measure on Tuesday.

Heading into the November election, Republicans sought to cast the abortion ballot measure as extreme and going too far for the state, while Democrats noted the looming six-week ban currently in litigation should the measure have failed to pass.

Sad. Death cult celebrating abortion on demand advancing in Ohio. Under this new and extreme constitutional provision, it makes it virtually impossible to protect unborn babies at ANY TIME in pregnancy.

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) November 8, 2023

ABC News added:

Ohio voters have added abortion protections to the state constitution, ABC News projects — the latest in what has emerged as a growing string of pro-abortion rights votes around the country, in both blue and red states, in the wake of Roe v. Wade being struck down last year.

Election Day on Tuesday saw Ohio voters considering two state-wide ballot initiatives: whether to guarantee abortion access and whether to legalize marijuana.

The measure to legalize marijuana will also pass, ABC News projects.

“Should Issue 1 pass, Ohio will become the most radical abortion regime in the country, allowing for late-term abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, including when science confirms an unborn child is capable of feeling pain,” LifeNews wrote.

“As a constitutional amendment, Issue 1 will trump state law, rendering the 22-week ban unenforceable,” the outlet added.

Cont. from LifeNews:

By failing to explicitly define viability, and by giving abortionists the final word in determining when post-viability abortions can be performed on a case-by-case basis, Issue 1 leaves the door wide open for painful, late-term abortions. Issue 1 also contains a major loophole by allowing late-term abortions to protect the “health” of the mother. The United States Supreme Court has interpreted “health” to include not just a mother’s physical health, but also her mental, emotional, social and financial health, essentially permitting late-term abortion for any reason.

The groups supporting Issue 1 have refused to rule out the fact that Issue 1 will legalize late-term abortion up until the moment of birth in Ohio.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the abortion industry, more than 50,000 abortions are performed annually after 15 weeks when an unborn child is capable of feeling pain, and at least 10,000 are performed after 20 weeks.

PWO highlighted the fact that Issue 1 will permit painful, late-term abortions in Ohio in a recent ad featuring Ohio abortionist Martin Haskell. Haskell invented the barbaric partial-birth abortion technique in Ohio, and brags that he “routinely” performs late-term abortions at 20-24 weeks, even admitting 80% of the partial-birth abortions he performs are “purely elective.” Haskell gave $100,000 to the campaign supporting Issue 1 because he knows it is an investment in his late-term abortion practice.

Issue 1 will also remove parents from the equation, allowing minors to obtain abortions and life-altering medical procedures without parental consent. As a recent Cleveland.com report explains, parental consent laws “could stay in place if the state or anti-abortion attorneys can successfully argue to a court that parental involvement would advance a girl’s health.”