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Ohio has voted to protect the right to abortion in the state’s constitution, a major victory for reproductive rights. Seventeen months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, residents of the Republican-controlled state firmly backed an amendment that enshrined access to the procedure and a range of other reproductive rights.
The outcome of the closely watched referendum is a huge victory for Democrats, who hope to capitalize on the issue in the 2024 elections. President Joe Biden celebrated the decision as a victory over “MAGA Republican elected officials” who tried to impose “extreme abortion bans that endanger the health and lives of women.”
Abortion is legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio, but the Republican Party has fought to enact a six-week ban following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022. The ballot initiative in Ohio, simply ‘ Called Issue 1’, it affirms women’s right to make their own decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and pregnancy.
It still allows some late-term abortions to be banned unless the mother’s life is in danger or a doctor allows the procedure to go ahead. Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, opposed the ballot initiative, claiming it would lead to more late-life abortions.
Ohio joins voters in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont who have affirmed abortion rights or voted against undermining them. The state made national headlines just weeks after the Dobbs decision, when a 10-year-old sex abuse victim from Ohio was forced to go to Indiana to have an abortion because terminating her pregnancy in the state would be criminal. In August, Ohio voters rejected a measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution. This measure paved the way for abortion to be put on the ballot.
CNN exit polls showed 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 judge’s decision, while four in 10 said they were “angry.”
Biden added that the “extreme and dangerous agenda” to enact abortion bans across the country “is out of step with the vast majority of Americans.” “Tonight, Americans voted again to protect their fundamental freedoms – and democracy won,” the president said shortly after the results were announced. “In Ohio, voters protected access to reproductive health care in their state constitution.” Ohioans and voters across the country rejected efforts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose extreme abortion bans that endanger women’s health and lives, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors and nurses for providing health care. care that their patients need and for which they are trained.
Last year, abortion rights advocacy groups scored a series of victories by putting referendums on abortion on the agenda, including in conservative states. In addition to Tuesday’s amendment in Ohio, similar ballot measures are advancing in several states for 2024, including swing states Arizona and Florida.
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