After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago, returning abortion law to the states, Ohio abortion groups have collected 700,000 signatures for the Nov. 7 ballot measure to codify the right to abortion — with restrictions and an exception for the health of the mother — in the state Constitution.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR) submitted the signatures — nearly double the required 413,446 minimum, according to The Hill — from all 88 Ohio counties to the secretary of state, which has until July 25 to verify the signatures to get the ballot measure ready for the Nov. 7 general election.
Notably, this amendment brings abortion forward with restrictions and exceptions and does not grant unilateral right to abortion.
"Abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability," it reads. "But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient's life or health."
It adds: "'Fetal viability means 'the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.'"
The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety Amendment was filed in February and approved for signature collection March 13.
"This is a historic day for Ohio and for reproductive freedom," OURR's Lauren Blauvelt and Kellie Copeland wrote in a joint statement. "We cannot thank our volunteers enough for this herculean grassroots effort to ensure patients and doctors, not government extremists, are in control of making private medical decisions.
"Fortunately, the Ohio Constitution gives us the ability to take this popular issue directly to the people.
"Today, we take a huge step forward in the fight for abortion access and reproductive freedom for all, to ensure that Ohioans and their families can make their own healthcare decisions without government interference.”
Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom (ORF) and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (OPRR) joined to form OURR for the campaign to codify abortion in Ohio.
"Our campaign to enshrine reproductive freedom and abortion access in the Ohio Constitution began on July 7, 2022, when an open letter to patients signed by 1,000 physicians who were appalled and frustrated by the horrific events that were occurring in doctor's offices, emergency rooms, and operating suites across the state every day appeared in the Columbus Dispatch," OPRR co-founders Dr. Lauren Beene and Dr. Marcela Azevedo said in a joint statement.
"Over the past year, support for the amendment has grown exponentially thanks to our partners at ORF, the thousands of volunteers who gathered signatures in communities across the state, and the hundreds of thousands of people who added their names to our petitions. Today, the message we and they are sending is loud and clear: 'Let the people decide.'"
Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose will review the 700,000 signatures, confirming they are registered voters and signed just once.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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