Advocates fighting for abortion rights in Ohio have successfully submitted a significant number of signatures, nearly double the required amount, to add a measure protecting abortion access to the state’s constitution. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR), the coalition leading the effort, has submitted over 700,000 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. The office will now evaluate the legitimacy of at least 413,487 of these signatures. If enough signatures are deemed valid, the issue will be included on Ohio’s general election ballot in November.
The leaders of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, one of the organizations supporting OURR, expressed their satisfaction with the progress made so far. Lauren Blauvelt and Kellie Copeland stated, “Today, we take a huge step forward in the fight for abortion access and reproductive freedom for all, to ensure that Ohioans and their families can make their own health care decisions without government interference.”
The initiative to include the amendment on the ballot began last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected abortion access for almost 50 years. Dr. Lauren Beene and Dr. Marcela Azevedo, founders of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, emphasized the importance of allowing the people to decide on such a critical issue in their statement.
Similar movements supporting abortion rights have gained traction in other traditionally conservative states following the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Last August, voters in Kansas, a state consistently won by Republican presidential nominees since 1968, overwhelmingly voted to preserve abortion protections in their state constitution. More recently, voters in deeply conservative Kentucky rejected a ballot measure that aimed to remove constitutional protections for abortion.
Michigan and California, swing state and deep blue respectively, also had successful ballot measures in the last election, enshrining abortion rights in their respective state constitutions. However, achieving the same outcome in Ohio may prove to be more challenging. In August, Ohio residents will vote on a Republican-backed measure seeking to increase the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%. Even in more liberal states, reaching a 60% majority has been difficult. Michigan’s amendment, for example, passed with 57% of the vote, while Kansas protected its amendment with 59% support.
Rep. Brian Stewart, the main sponsor of the measure to raise the threshold, defended the initiative during a floor debate, stating that any outside group seeking inclusion in Ohio’s constitution should be able to gain widespread public support, as a 60% vote margin would require.
As it stands, abortion is banned in Ohio after 22 weeks of pregnancy.
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