Ohio Voters To Decide on Sweeping Pro-Abortion Constitutional Amendment

On Tuesday, November 7, Ohio voters will decide whether to enact Issue 1, a strongly pro-abortion proposed constitutional amendment. Here is the full text of the amendment as it will appear on the ballot (alongside notes from both proponents and opponents of the amendment arguing why voters should support or reject it): 

This amendment would: 

• Establish in the Constitution of the State of Ohio an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion; 
• Create legal protections for any person or entity that assists a person with receiving reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion; 
• Prohibit the State from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing, or prohibiting abortion before an unborn child is determined to be viable, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means; 
• Grant a pregnant woman’s treating physician the authority to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether an unborn child is viable; 
• Only allow the State to prohibit an abortion after an unborn child is determined by a pregnant woman’s treating physician to be viable and only if the physician does not consider the abortion necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health; and 
• Always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination, the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health. 

Notably, this language is broad-sweeping and vague, leading many to conclude that it would place at risk most of the regulations on the practice of induced abortion that are currently in place in the state, including limits on late-term abortions, the parental notification requirement, and the health and safety standards to which abortion clinics are held. For more information about Issue 1’s potential impacts, as well as how you can help Ohioans advance life-affirming medicine at this time, be sure to listen to Parts 1 and 2 of our podcast episode featuring Dr. Vivina Napier, a board-certified OB-GYN practicing in Dayton. 

In the past few weeks, AAPLOG has worked to promote life-affirming care in Ohio. On October 17, Dr. Christina Francis spoke at a rally in Toledo organized by 40 Days for Life. The event took place outside of an abortion facility that only offers chemical abortions. Dr. Francis spoke about the dangers of chemical abortion to women and urged listeners to use this information to help inform women they are reaching out to outside of abortion facilities.