A proposed measure to enshrine abortion in the Ohio state constitution is all but certain to appear on the November ballot, after a coalition of reproductive rights advocates on Wednesday submitted the required number of signatures.
The groups — Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights — had until July 5 to collect about 413,000 valid signatures (10% of the total votes cast in the latest governor’s race, under Ohio law) across at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties to have the amendment placed.
State officials must now review the signatures collected for duplicates and other potential errors. (Signatures can be thrown out, for example, if the person wasn’t registered to vote at the address submitted or if the person’s handwriting was unreadable.)
The groups, however, said they’d collected nearly twice the needed number of signatures — more than 710,000 — in the event that any were deemed invalid.
“We know that we are going to win in November. We are poised to put this — put abortion rights — in the hands of the voters, and we’re excited to announce this first victory on that,” Dr. Sri Thakkilapati, one of the founders of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, said at a press conference Wednesday morning in Columbus.
Reproductive rights groups delivered 42 boxes of signatures to the state Capitol in Columbus, the location of the office of Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose, who will ultimately approve the submission.
“Those 42 boxes are filled with hope and dreams of bodily autonomy,” said Kellie Copeland, the executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio, which worked with the groups to advance the measure.
State and county officials have 15 days to determine whether the groups met the required target, with LaRose having a July 25 deadline to formally sign off on the process. If they declare that the groups collected the required signatures, the proposed measure will then be formally placed on the Ohio ballot in November.
If approved, the proposed measure would insert language in the state constitution that enshrines the right of every individual “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including regarding contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion. It also specifies that the state shall not “burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” those rights.
The proposed amendment specifies that abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability, but it includes exceptions to protect the mother’s life or health.
The proposed amendment has already been approved by the state attorney general and Ballot Board.
The measure is designed to counteract Ohio’s “heartbeat bill,” which snapped back into place immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. That law, which effectively bans most abortions — but includes exceptions for the health of the pregnant woman and in cases of ectopic pregnancies — remains temporarily blocked by a state judge.
As it stands currently, the proposed amendment would pass in November if a simple majority of voters approve it.
But a separate ballot measure — which voters will decide on during an Aug. 8 special election — could raise that threshold, making it more difficult for abortion rights to be enshrined in the state.
In May, Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature scheduled that August election to let Ohio voters decide whether to raise to 60% the threshold of support required for passage of ballot measures that amend the state constitution. It will also let voters decide whether groups trying to place ballot measures must obtain signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties, instead of the 44 now required.
Reproductive rights groups contend the move was explicitly designed to make it more difficult for voters to pass their November measure: The Republican-led moves came just weeks after reproductive rights groups in the state cleared several key hurdles on their own path to get their measure on the ballot.
Public polling has shown that about 59% of Ohio voters support enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution — a level just shy of the newly proposed raised threshold.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
