Breaking Down Ohio's Issue 1
Part 2: What This Is About
Is Issue 1 about abortion? Yes and no, but at this point in time, mostly yes.
In 2019, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the “heartbeat bill” into law, making it illegal to obtain an abortion after a heartbeat is determined in a fetus (usually around six weeks). Abortion-rights advocates quickly sued the state, and a judge issued an injunction that kept the law from being enforced. The “heartbeat bill” was briefly reinstated last year, before another judge issued a new injunction.
Currently, abortion is legal in Ohio up 21 weeks and six days, around the time an unborn child is thought to be viable outside the womb.
A petition begins to circulate
Not wanting to play a continual back-and-forth game with pro-life politicians, pro-choice advocates created a petition seeking an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would guarantee abortion to be legal up until the time of viability. A group called Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights sent volunteers throughout the state to gather the 413,446 signatures needed to get the amendment on the ballot. By the deadline, the petition had garnered 700,000 signatures (495,938 of which were cleared by the secretary of state). In July, it was announced that the proposed amendment would be added to the ballot in November.
The proposed amendment declares among other things that:
all individuals have a right to make their own reproductive decisions
the state cannot penalize or interfere with a person receiving an abortion nor with providers assisting with the procedure
abortions can be prohibited after fetal viability, which would be determined on a “case by case” basis.
Implications from the upcoming special election
If Issue 1 passes on Aug. 8, a 60% supermajority will be needed to pass the amendment in November. If Issue 1 fails, the amendment will need to pass by a simple majority of 50% + 1.
Some Ohioans who oppose the proposed amendment don’t want to wait around for the Aug. 8 special election to take action. They’ve filed a lawsuit asking the Ohio Supreme Court to not allow the proposed amendment onto the November ballot because it doesn’t clearly define how the amendment would change Ohio laws if it passed. Specifically, they say that the amendment would nullify the “heartbeat bill” as well as a law requiring parental consent for minors to undergo abortions and a provision that prohibits performing abortions in cases of Down Syndrome.
Abortion is the hot-button issue that’s driving the special election on Aug. 8. Opponents of Issue 1 believe that much more is at stake than codifying abortion rights. They say that Issue 1 would effectively end majority rule when it comes to voting on amendments. Instead of putting about half of Ohio voters in charge of decision-making, it would put 40% in charge.
The Republican argument is that it should be harder to amend the state constitution.
Early voting for the Aug. 8 election has already begun, and reports indicate that turnout is higher than expected. With the ongoing buzz about Issue 1 and especially its potential effect on an abortion amendment, that is certainly no surprise.
It should be difficult to alter the constitution.