COLUMBUS – A woman’s right to have an abortion is now enshrined in the Ohio constitution, the result of voters’ approval of a ballot issue in November.
The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment, which passed by a margin of 57% to 43% after a bitter an protracted campaign, was proposed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
“Every conversation and every dollar used to educate voters on what was at stake during this election brought us to this momentous day. Ohioans spoke with their votes and demanded that the government stay out of their personal medical decisions, transcending party lines and other demographics, Erica Wilson-Domer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, and Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said in a joint statement.
Issue 1 specifically declared an individual’s right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including birth control, fertility treatments, miscarriage and abortion.
Its passage almost certainly renders Ohio’s 2019 law banning abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat, under consideration by the state Supreme Court effectively void.
Ohio is the seventh state to adopt pro-abortion measures since Roe v. Wade was struck but Ohio’s includes the widest protections so far.