A reproductive rights coalition hopes to repeat the success of similar measures that passed in multiple US states last fall
(Bloomberg) — Ohio voters may have a chance to decide on abortion rights when they go to the ballot box this fall.
Two pro-abortion groups, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, announced a campaign to get an initiative on the ballot that aims to add the “right to reproductive freedom” to the state constitution. The coalition plans to file paperwork with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Tuesday, according to a statement.
Abortion is legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio, after a judge indefinitely blocked a law banning most abortions after six weeks. The ballot measure seeks to secure the status quo.
“We simply cannot rely on our legislators or even ultimately on the courts to secure this freedom in the long run,” Jessie Hill, a professor who has worked for Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said during a Tuesday press conference. “We have to do it for ourselves.”
Ohio would be the first state to have a pro-abortion initiative on the ballot this year. The groups are hoping to repeat the success similar measures had in the 2022 mid-term elections, when voters in a handful of states resoundingly supported the strengthening of reproductive rights.
To get on the ballot, Republican AG Yost will have to approve the proposed language and then the groups will have to collect over 400,000 signatures by July 5th.
Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the abortion battleground has shifted to statehouses. Around a dozen have implemented near-total bans and about a dozen more have codified abortion rights in their state laws or constitutions. In the rest, both pro- and anti-abortion groups are fighting to make the rules. The average American now lives 275 miles further from an abortion facility than before the Supreme Court decision.
Voters, so far, have favored abortion rights when given a choice on the ballot — even in Republican strongholds. Reproductive rights groups in New York and South Dakota are hoping to get more measures on the ballot in 2024. In Iowa, Florida and Pennsylvania, voters could vote on anti-abortion constitutional amendments this year and next.
(Updates with abortion clinic distances in seventh paragraph.)
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