Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that organizers submitted enough valid signatures to put an amendment on the November ballot. The statewide vote would come a year after two of Ohios neighboring states deepred Kentucky and the political battleground of Michigan supported abortion rights in their own ballot measures. After the announcement Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters called it an important victory for Ohio women. The vote on the abortion amendment plays out the procedure in Ohio remains legal up to weeks into a pregnancy after a Cincinnati judge last year temporarily blocked a fetal heartbeat bill. That ban was a trigger law passed in which took effect when the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade with its decision last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. With the petition recognized LaRose will send it to the Ohio Ballot Board where language on the amendment will be drafted for its inclusion on the general election ballot according to Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights who in the meantime said they will actively participate in the effort to defeat the measure up for a vote in August. Opponents of such a special election include abortion rights activists and two of ohios former Republican governors Bob Taft and John Kasich who all point out the session is set to happen during a slow summer season where turnout is expected to be low. This is a kind of change that really needs to be considered by all the people who go out and vote in a presidential election. 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 Lauren Blauvelt and Lauren Beene executive committee board members for OhioansUnited for Reproduproductive Rights said in a statement Tuesday. Now that the petition drive is complete were eager to continue the campaign to enshrine those rights in Ohios Constitution and ensure that Ohioans will never again be subject to draconian reproductive health Care policies imposed by extremists they added. In a statement last month sponsors of the August special election have admitted it was placed on the ballot for one reason to silence the voices of the vast majority of Ohioans who support reproductive rights and abortion access. The group said it will continue to fight to keep the measure out of the state’s constitution and that it will not back down from the fight to protect women’s rights to abortion. The amendment would ensure every individual has a right to made and carry out ones reproductive decisions. It would be the first of its kind in the state and would not require a majority of voters to vote for it. The measure would be introduced in a special session of the legislature in August to be heard by the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. It is expected that the measure will be defeated by a margin of more than 50 to 40. The proposal would also require a two-thirds majority vote to be approved by the state Senate and the governor to sign it into law. The state legislature has said it would not consider the measure until after the November general election. The proposed amendment would not take effect until the November election.
Abortion rights amendment qualifies for November ballot in Ohio. Abortion rights amendment qualifying for November
