On Tuesday, voters in Ohio will be faced with a ballot issue to pass or reject an amendment to the state's constitution.
Ohio voters have been working through the state's limits on abortion procedures for years, as shaped through the representatives elected by the people and the legislation they either failed or succeeded in passing.
The pro-abortion lobby lost.
Now, they are attempting to work around the legislative process and enshrine legalized abortion in the state through a single ballot measure, using deceptively crafted language.
The #prochoice editorial board of the Toledo Blade says Issue 1 goes too far for Ohioans. They are urging voters to vote No on Issue 1.
— Ohio Right to Life #VoteNoInNovember (@ohiolife) November 3, 2023
Some quotes from the article:
“With just one doctor’s say-so, this amendment would allow late-term elective abortions of nearly fully grown… pic.twitter.com/1DcW6mh7ip
That would be the end result of voting yes on Issue 1.
Ohio law already includes exceptions that would permit abortion if the life of the mother is in danger (an almost nonexistent circumstance), or if the mother would suffer irreversible physical harm.
The proposed amendment uses open-ended and ambiguous language that could open the floodgates on abortion, at any time during a pregnancy, and for any reason, if a doctor is willing to agree the mother's health may be harmed - including mental health.
Current Ohio law does not allow mental health to be a determining factor to allow aborting a perfectly viable baby.
If a woman seeking an abortion can get a doctor to agree to abort based on mental health reasons, even if she and the baby are physically healthy, the new constitution would allow it. Don't believe for a second there aren't pro-choice doctors out there whose standard for viability and the mother's health will allow for abortion at almost any point.
Many supporters of Issue 1 will lie and say that abortions up until birth don't happen.
— Protect Women Ohio (@ProtectWomenOH) November 4, 2023
We know this isn't true though and that if Issue 1 passes Ohio is at risk for allow partial-birth abortions in our great state. pic.twitter.com/roQe3NX0DB
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The goal is to take the abortion issue away from voters and their representatives and codify extreme pro-abortion preferences into the Ohio constitution.
ACLU, George Soros and Planned Parenthood Pour Millions Into Ohio for Issue 1 https://t.co/Cj3KENEhzx
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) October 27, 2023
Outside money is pouring into Ohio to undo what the citizens of Ohio have already encoded into law.
Planned Parenthood stands to profit greatly if this succeeds.
To the great people of the Buckeye State:
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) November 2, 2023
Vote NO on Issue 1.
The abortion lobby is trying to enshrine a “right to abortion” in your state’s constitution.
If this amendment passes, abortion will be legalized in the state of Ohio for any reason, up to birth.
Abortion is clearly a difficult issue for individuals and governments to wrestle with. It's an issue that deserves the effort, thoughtful debate, and compromise that must occur in democratically elected legislatures.
It's a disservice to the people of Ohio to sneak open-ended abortion access into the Constitution by hiding it behind ambiguous language that will sound reasonable to many, but cloak the full ramifications of the amendment.
Here are just a few of the points Ohio voters should consider:
- The Amendment is titled 'The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety'. This is deceptive. This is about abortion. Responsible adults already practice 'reproductive freedom' without abortion. Ohio law already has abortion exceptions for the health and safety of mothers, as enshrined in law by the people's representatives.
- The Amendment states this 'right' applies to 'every individual' with no language requiring parental consent for minors.
- The Amendment states individuals can 'make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions' with no mandate that parental consent is required. Minor children can seek abortion from a consenting doctor without involving her parents under this language.
- The Amendment allows an individual to make these decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and so on, with abortion mentioned last. Again, the tactic is to make the provisions sound reasonable and sneak in nearly unlimited abortion as well. The language also states the covered decisions are not limited to these decisions only. This opens the door to minors making decisions about transgender transition or surgical procedures without their parents' consent.
- The Amendment states that the people's legislature cannot take any action against a 'person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right'. They are providing constitutionally mandated protections for Planned Parenthood, among others. This also could provide protections to organizations coming to your child's school to promote abortion or any other topic they can tie to 'reproductive freedom', such as activist groups who want to push LGBTQ agendas on your children.
- The Amendment claims to be based on 'widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care' but does not identify those standards in any way. It's constitutional Swiss cheese for activist judges to read rights into the constitution of Ohio that simply do not exist.
- The Amendment makes no distinction between physical and mental health. Mental health can be widely interpreted by doctors, opening the door to doctor shopping for one who is willing to abort a viable baby.
- The Amendment allows for abortion after viability (typically 24 weeks) with no limitation (up until birth) if the patient's treating physician determines there is a health risk. Again, it won't take long for people to recognize a list of doctors who are willing to see health risks where none exist.
- The Amendment allows the doctor to determine viability. There is no objective standard given by the amendment.
- The Amendment would take effect immediately, leaving the people's representatives no mechanism to regulate abortion in the state of Ohio. The only way to undo the harm this amendment will cause (which will likely be unclear to many voters) will be with another constitutional amendment.
Ohio voters should read the amendment for themselves. This is a usurpation of the people's ability to regulate abortion in Ohio and a train wreck of constitutional ambiguity.
Ohioans need to VOTE NO.
— (James P.S.) Steve Martin (@submx8ch) November 6, 2023
You can view the full text of the proposed amendment at the above link.
Do you want taxpayer funded abortion up to the moment of birth? Do you want to lock parents out of the health care of their kids? No and no. Vote NO on issue 1! pic.twitter.com/pXSh2mCoYl
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) October 28, 2023
Many Ohio politicians, such as Senator Vance, have been sounding the alarm on Issue 1.
Many pro-abortion extremist groups outside the states have also been trying to exert their influence on the citizens of Ohio.
In 5 days Ohio will vote to decide whether or not to codify abortion rights into the actual state constitution. This state went for Trump hard the last two elections. But given his squishiness on it, not seeing signs Issue 1 will be defeated, and he hasn’t said one word about it.…
— Jon 🔬 (@JonnyMicro) November 3, 2023
Many pro-life voters were alarmed at President Trump's recent criticisms of Governor DeSantis's passage of a 6-week abortion ban in Florida, shaking our confidence in what had been a stellar pro-life record.
Ohio is battling for a similar ban, which was, again, passed by the legislature.
We're hoping President Trump's statement had more to do with primary electioneering than anything else.
It would be incredibly helpful if Trump, DeSantis, and any other leading Republican voice around the country added their voices in the final days, calling on Ohio voters to VOTE NO on Issue 1.
This is one of those things flying under the radar nationally that you’ll wake up on Wednesday morning and say WHOA when the results come out. Just saying
— Jon 🔬 (@JonnyMicro) November 3, 2023
Voters being unaware and politicians being too embroiled in their campaigns or too afraid to speak out on a controversial topic could result in a devastating loss for the pro-life movement in Ohio after so much has been accomplished.
Barack Obama has already weighed in on behalf of Issue 1 in Ohio, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion as a fundamental right.
— National Review (@NRO) November 4, 2023
Will Trump let this go unanswered? | @jackbutler4815 https://t.co/lSxPIVT8V2
Democrats certainly aren't shying away from Ohio's decision.
National Republicans need to be as bold.
Citizens of Ohio should vote NO against Issue 1. https://t.co/V8QsplTQan
— Live Action (@LiveAction) November 3, 2023
This is it Ohio.
We're going to need every voter. We're going to need every GOP politician to make a final push to get out the vote.
Vote NO on Issue 1.
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