Ohio has voted to protect the right to abortion in the state’s constitution in a major victory for reproductive rights. Seventeen months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, residents in the Republican-controlled state resoundingly backed an amendment that enshrines access to the procedure and a string of other reproductive rights.
The result of the closely-watched referendum is a huge win for Democrats who are hoping to capitalize on the issue in the 2024 elections.
President Joe Biden celebrated the decision as a victory over ‘MAGA Republican elected officials’ trying to ‘impose extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy’.
Abortion is legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio, but the GOP has battled to introduce a six-week ban after the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022.
The Ohio ballot initiative, simply called ‘Issue 1,’ affirms the right of women to make their own decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and pregnancy.
It still allows for some late-term abortions to be banned, unless the mother’s life is in danger or if a doctor allows the procedure to go ahead. Republicans, including Governor Mike DeWine, opposed the ballot initiative and claimed it would lead to more late-term abortions.
Ohio joins voters in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont who have either affirmed the right to an abortion or voted against undermining it.
The state made national headlines just weeks after the Dobbs decision, when a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim was forced to go to Indiana to obtain an abortion because terminating her pregnancy would be criminal in the state.
In August, Ohio voters rejected a measure that would have made it harder to amend the state’s constitution. The move cleared the way for abortion to be put on the ballot.
Exit polls from CNN showed that most Ohio voters were angry about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Six in 10 voters said they had negative feelings about the justices’ decision while four in 10 said they were ‘angry’.
