THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!
Issue 1 has passed!!!
Ballot Language is out and it is another attempt to mislead voters
watch the recorded Ohio Ballot Board Meeting here
Voters back abortion rights, but some foes won’t relent. Is the commitment to democracy in question?
"We.Are.Not.Done.," Ohio state Rep. Jennifer Gross declared on the social media platform X two days after voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution earlier this month. She and 25 other Republican lawmakers vowed to block the amendment from reversing Ohio's existing abortion restrictions...read more here
It is important that Ohioans know the truth behind the misinformation that people are sharing.
Backers blast revised ballot language for Ohio’s fall abortion amendment as misleading
The Ohio Ballot Board approved language Thursday for a fall measure seeking to establish abortion access as a fundamental right, but one Democratic member blasted it as “rife with misleading and defective language.”
LaRose’s summary turned that section on its head. It now says the amendment would “always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination” the life and health exception applies.
“The entire summary is propaganda,” said Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the statewide coalition of organizations supporting abortion rights and related causes that has proposed the amendment.
“The amendment that is put forward is clear about reproductive freedom and reproductive health care decisions that Ohioans should be able to make for themselves, and that is ultimately what the vote in November will be about,” she said...read more here
More Texas counties are trying to prevent people from using specific roads to get an abortion
Lubbock County has about 317,000 residents and far outnumbers the population of the three other Texas counties — Mitchell, Goliad and Cochran — that have approved the ordinance in recent months, with each county’s population counting fewer than 10,000 residents.
“Texans already live under some of the most restrictive and dangerous abortion bans in the country, yet anti-abortion extremists continue to push additional unnecessary, confusing and fear-inducing barriers to essential healthcare,” said Autumn Keiser, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
you can read more here
More hospitals across the US are closing maternity wards
However, another reason some hospitals may be shutting programs is due to the challenging landscape since the June 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Since then, at least 16 states have ceased nearly all abortions due to restrictions -- and the count could rise as states such as Arizona and Florida face court challenges to their strict bans.
Earlier this year, Bonner General Health in Sandpoint -- 400 miles north of Boise, Idaho and serving about 9,000 people -- said it would nolonger be providing obstetrical care due in part to the state's "legal and political climate," indirectly referring to recent restrictions on abortions.
"We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services," Ford Elsaesser, BGH's board president, said in a news release at that time. "We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now." ...read more here
This is what Frank LaRose wants you to think you are voting on. He used inflammatory language not scientific in order to confuse and mislead voters. Notice how it fails to mention
- Contraception
- Fertility Treatment
- Continuing one's own pregnancy
- Miscarriage care
They just refer to abortion over and over again.
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House Rep.
Dr. Anita Somani
OB/GYN
Ohio Supreme Court could reinstate 6-week abortion ban ahead of Nov. vote
Arguments will begin on Sept. 27th, 2023 on the six week abortion ban currently on hold in Ohio. Rep. Dr. Anita Somani, who was also a guest speaker at our Women's History Month Dinner, is very concerned of the number of lives that could be lost due to one of the harshest abortion bans being reinstated ahead of the general election this fall.
When a Republican representative was asked for comment Rep. Josh Williams had this to say. “You engaged in adult activity, you have a reasonable time to get done with your beer goggles and your bad decisions and say, ‘let me go and talk to my doctor,'”
Let us remind everyone, not every woman or child who becomes pregnant is a promiscuous, adulterous, evil person who deserves to be forced to raise an unwanted child so that they will repent and find their way. What we are talking about is a one size fits all ban that harm innocent people, it removes only safe abortions it will never prevent all of them. It will force more ten year old children to give birth....read more here
House Rep.
Josh Williams
Issue 1 has been defeated !!!
House Speaker
Jason Stephens
Blame game: Issue 1 supporters pointing fingers after resounding loss
“The people of Ohio have spoken,” he said. “It is now time to turn our attention to November. As a 100% pro-life conservative, we must defeat Issue 1 on November 7 to stop abortion from being a part of our state’s constitution.”
Huffman wasn’t deterred either. He argued a proposal restricting constitutional amendments is “probably going to come back.”
But he didn’t stop there. Even if November’s reproductive rights amendment is successful, he promised a response.
“If it passes in November,” Huffman said, “there’s going to be another abortion amendment to go on after that, to repeal that.” - Ohio Capital Journal
Senate President
Matt Huffman
Issue 1 Ends Majority Rule: It means just 40% of voters can block any issue, putting 40% of voters in charge of decision-making for the majority.
Issue 1 Shreds Our Constitution: It would permanently undo constitutional protections that have been in place for over 100 years to check politicians’ power at the ballot box.
Issue 1 Takes Away Our Freedom: It would destroy citizen-driven ballot initiatives as we know them, guaranteeing that only wealthy special interests could advance changes to our constitution.
Issue 1 Applies to All Issues: If this amendment passes, it will apply to every single amendment on any issue Ohioans will ever vote on – you name it, just 40% of voters will decide. - Ballotpedia
Now
50% + 1 of votes needed to pass
Signatures from 44 counties needed to submit.
A cure period is allowed to gather additional signatures if needed.
Keeps the process the same as it has been since 1912
Issue 1
60% of voters needed to pass
Signatures from 88 counties needed to submit.
If more signatures are needed, the process must completely start over.
Takes away power from citizens
Answering questions about Ohio’s Issue 1 on the ballot August 8 - Ohio Capital Journal
Opponents of proposed constitutional change to make it harder to pass amendments talk about strategy - Statehouse News Bureau
Billionaire backing effort to raise Ohio amendment threshold funded election deniers, Jan. 6 rally
An out-of-state donor who wants to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution has a history of supporting candidates who falsely deny the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he’s a major supporter of groups that helped organize the rally on Jan. 6, 2021 that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. - Ohio Capitol Journal
TOP 5 REASONS TO VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1 ON AUGUST 8TH
On August 8, 2023, Ohioans will be asked to decide one of the most consequential elections in our lifetime. The question is: Should Ohioans break from 110 years of our history and make it harder for citizens to amend our constitution? Of course, we shouldn’t. - ACLU
Ohio Sec. of State LaRose admits making constitution harder to amend is ‘100% about… abortion’
In the video, he adds that although it is about abortion now, it would be useful down the road to combat what he calls “dangerous plans” from the “Left.”
“The next thing they want to do is put a $15 an hour minimum wage in our state constitution,” he said. “And who knows what’s next? Marijuana?” Ohio Capitol Journal
Ohioans vote on Issue 1 in Aug., what does it say?
"My biggest concern is that Ohioans will look at this ballot language, will not understand that if they vote yes, they're actually voting to take their own personal power and right away as an Ohio voter," Miller said.
“Democrats and nonpartisan organizations say the language is purposely misleading by not including the current standards for passing constitutional amendments, which is a simple majority of 50% +1. Voters should also know signature requirements will expand from 44 to all 88 counties, Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters of Ohio said.” - News 5 Cleveland
Read the full text of the ballot initiative below.
Ohio board approves 'Issue 1' August ballot question meant to thwart abortion rights push
LaRose said his intention was to keep the ballot language simple, which Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora said was disingenuous. “It's sneaky and it's illegal,” he said.
“On this August's ballot, voters will be asked whether or not they support raising the threshold for passing future constitutional amendments from the simple majority Ohio has had in place since 1912 to a 60% supermajority. As a constitutional amendment itself, the 60% question will only need to pass by a simple majority of 50%-plus-one.” - WKYC News
Ohio House votes to send 60% approval amendment to special election in August
The resolution is controversial
“More than 250 unions and community groups have come out in opposition to it. Hundreds of the opponents packed inside the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse while the vote was being taken. They chanted so loudly that they could be heard inside the chamber, even with its heavy doors closed, as the resolution was debated and the vote was taken.” - State House News
Ohio Republicans approve August election that could thwart abortion-rights push in state
“These politicians know that their radical views on abortion care can’t win a fair vote, so they’re rigging the system,” Kellie Copeland, spokesperson for Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, said in a statement about the August special election.
“Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature this week approved a resolution that will ask voters in August to increase the threshold needed to change the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. It also would require backers of ballot initiatives to get signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties – rather than current 44 – to place something on the ballot.
Voters also could decide to eliminate the 10-day period during which citizen groups are currently allowed to gather additional voter signatures if their petitions are found to lack the required amount of valid signatures.
The special election will be held August 8. The election measure passed in the form of a joint resolution and does not require the governor’s signature to take effect.” - CNN
Important Conversations About Restoring Reproductive Rights in Ohio
Answering viewer questions about the Ohio proposal meant to stop abortion from becoming legal - Ohio Capital Journal
Abortion foes take aim at ballot initiatives in next phase of post-Dobbs political fights - CNN
Fact Check: MI law similar to Ohio’s abortion amendment didn’t lead to healthcare without parental consent - News 5 Cleveland
What would an Ohio abortion amendment mean for parental consent?
Protect Women Ohio, which opposes the proposed constitutional amendment, launched television ads that claim parents could not stop their children from having an abortion or receiving medical treatment for transgender minors. "You could be cut out of the biggest decision of her life."
Proponents of the abortion measure say that's not true. "There is absolutely nothing in the amendment that mentions or supersedes Ohio's parental consent laws," Dr. Lauren Beene, executive director of Ohio Physicians For Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. - Columbus Dispatch
Texas woman denied an abortion tells senators she ‘nearly died on their watch’
“We’ve heard a lot today about the mental trauma and the negative harmful effects on a person’s psychological well-being after they have an abortion, supposedly, and I’m curious why that’s not relevant for me as well,” Zurawski said in the hearing of the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the impact of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“Because I wasn’t permitted to have an abortion and the trauma and the PTSD and the depression that I have dealt with in the eight months since this happened to me is paralyzing,” she said. “On top of that, I am still struggling to have children.” - CNN
Read the full text of the ballot initiative below.