The Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday that upholds the Ohio Ballot Board‘s unanimous decision that the proposed constitutional amendment called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporated only one constitutional amendment.
The state Supreme Court’s 7-0 ruling rejects a lawsuit by Margaret DeBlase of Montgomery County and John Giroux of Hamilton County claiming that the Ohio Ballot Board erred in its decision and that the proposed amendment contains multiple topics.
The proposed constitutional amendment by the Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights would legalize abortion throughout the state.
The constitutional amendment proposal would add a Section 22 to Article 1 of the state constitution. The proposal would remove Ohio’s parental notification legislation when a minor wants an abortion, as well as the requirement that abortionists adhere to fundamental hospital health and safety standards. The proposal also aims to permit abortions far after babies have heartbeats and can feel pain.
The lawsuit requested that the Supreme Court direct the Ballot Board to reverse its determination that the proposal only contained one amendment and to break it up into several proposals which would have caused the pro-abortion activists to have to restart the signature-gathering process before the deadline of July 5th.
According to precedent-setting rulings, the court determined that while a proposed amendment’s individual provisions need not be related to one another, they must be related to a single aim. “In this case, the proposed amendment meets that standard because each provision relates to the single general purpose of protecting a person’s reproductive rights,” the ruling states.
Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom have until July 5th to collect over 413,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 44 counties, which equals 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election to make it on the November ballot. The number of signatures must equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race in each county.
Pro-life supporters said this amendment goes too far and is out of touch with Ohioans’ views on abortion.
Ohio Right to Life‘s director of communications Elizabeth Marbach told The Ohio Star that it is imperative that Ohioans vote against this ballot issue come November.
“This ballot initiative is another shameful attempt by the abortion lobby to capitalize off painful situations to force upon Ohio citizens abortions until birth, remove parental rights, and cancel health and safety standards for abortion mills to abide by. Ohioans must protect vulnerable women and pre-born children against predatory out-of-state interest groups and vote against this come November,” Marbach told The Star.
Ohio lawmakers said that they hope that Ohio State Issue 1, to protect the state Constitution from outside special interest groups, will pass in the special August election before the abortion amendment goes before voters in November.
State Issue 1 would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
Voters will decide whether to approve State Issue 1 during a statewide special election on August 8th.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Ohio Supreme Court” by Joffre Essley. CC BY-SA 2.0.
