Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights delivered two U-Haul trucks full of boxes of signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office Wednesday morning in an attempt to qualify for the November ballot.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Abortion rights will be on the November ballot in Ohio.
The campaign backing a constitutional amendment proposal to protect abortion rights submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office said Tuesday.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights needed 413,487 signatures from registered voters in half of Ohio’s 88 counties, signed by no fewer than 5% of the electors of that county, to qualify for the ballot. LaRose said in a letter to the campaign it had achieved that goal, submitting 495,938 total valid signatures from 55 counties.
The campaign had submitted over 710,000 signatures July 5. During the following weeks, county boards of election verified each of the signatures, that the signers were registered voters in Ohio, and whether the address on their voter registrations matched the address on the abortion rights petition. Tuesday was the deadline for LaRose to certify the work of the county boards.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights members say the campaign for the proposed amendment is necessary. Otherwise, Republicans who control state government will continue to pass abortion bans.
“Every person deserves respect, dignity, and the right to make reproductive health care decisions, including those related to their own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion free from government interference,” the campaign’s executive committee members Lauren Blauvelt and Dr. Lauren Beene said in a joint statement. “Now that the petition drive is complete, we’re eager to continue the campaign to enshrine those rights in Ohio’s Constitution and ensure that Ohioans will never again be subject to draconian reproductive health care policies imposed by extremists.”
The opposition campaign, Protect Women Ohio, also uses the word “extreme” to describe the amendment.
“Ohioans are waking up to the dangers of the ACLU’s anti-parent amendment and they are terrified – and rightfully so,” campaign spokeswoman Amy Natoce said. “The extreme amendment places parental rights on the chopping block by permitting minors to undergo abortions and sex change procedures without their parents’ knowledge or consent, removes health and safety protections for women, and allows painful abortion up until birth. PWO will continue to shine a light on the ACLU’s disastrous agenda until it is defeated in November.”
The amendment’s backers say that the amendment will not allow sex changes, as parental consent laws are different than reproductive rights. The American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend sex change surgeries on minors, although said hormones and puberty blockers can help a child experiencing gender dysphoria.
While the amendment proposal’s qualification for the ballot is official, it’s unknown how many votes at the ballot box will be required for it to pass.
Currently, 50% plus one vote is necessary to approve an amendment to the Ohio Constitution. However, on Aug. 8, voters will decide in a special election whether to increase that threshold to 60%.
The Republican-dominated General Assembly scheduled the special election to thwart the abortion rights amendment. In “purple” and “red” states, abortion rights have received 52% to 59% of the vote when they’ve been on the ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
Ohio would become the seventh state in the country to vote on abortion rights. It follows Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Vermont, Montana and California. All those states had either proposals that enshrined the right to an abortion, or allowed the state to regulate abortion. The abortion rights side prevailed with each.
