A ‘HER’STORIC day for Ohio! A proposed amendment to the state constitution would give Ohioans an individual right to reproductive health care modeled after a successful ballot initiative that last year enshrined such rights into Michigan’s state constitution.

Backers call the amendment the “Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” according to a written summary, filed 7,000 signatures today with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. A minimum of 1,000 Ohioan signatures were required to be submitted.

Filing the summary, along with the full text of the proposed amendment, is the first legal step in the multi-step process to place the measure for a statewide vote in November. It also offers Ohioans the first look at what the groups, Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, are proposing.

The proposed language would amend Article I, Section 22 of Ohio’s constitution to include a right for every individual “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” on contraception, fertility treatments, continuing a pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.” It would ban the state from “directly or indirectly” interfering with the exercise of that right except for “widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care” until fetal viability – the point in a pregnancy when physicians say a fetus can survive with reasonable measures.

Who are the groups who merged for women’s reproductive rights

Protect Choice Ohio is established by the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights. The group was formed in August 2022 and is led by Dr. Marcela Azevedo and Dr. Lauren Beene, two Cleveland-area doctors. Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (OPRR) has a political action committee (PAC) and a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, according to its website. Nearly all of the fundraising is done through the PAC, which reports its donors, according to the campaign. According to Dr. Beene, all funds raised will be used for this issue only.

• • Contributions to OPRRPAC will enable a citizen-led initiative to be placed on the November 2023 ballot. To contribute:
    • Online: ProtectChoiceOhio/Donate
    • Mail a check made payable to:
      OHIO PHYSICIANS FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS PAC (OPRRPAC)
      545 East Town Street
      Columbus, OH 43215

Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, which includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Ohio Women’s Alliance, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Preterm-Cleveland, Pro-Choice Ohio and Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE).

• • To Contribute – Make a contribution to any of the above organizations

What would the amendment do?

The amendment would enshrine the individual right to an abortion in the state constitution, setting abortion as part of a broader set of legally protected reproductive health topics like contraception and fertility treatment.

It still would allow the state to prohibit abortion after the point of fetal viability, when a fetus is medically deemed to be able to survive outside the womb, although it contains an exception for later-term abortions if a pregnant patient’s doctor deems the abortion to be necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.

The Roe v. Wade decision in 1971 set the viability cut-off in the third trimester of pregnancy, or 28 weeks into term, although medical viability more recently has been viewed as being around 23 weeks to 24 weeks, and possibly as low as 22 weeks.

Ohio’s current legal standard for abortion is that it is legal up to 22 weeks, although that’s only because the 2019 “heartbeat” law that bans it as early as six weeks into pregnancy is on hold while a legal challenge to the law plays out in court. The legal status of abortion in Ohio has been in limbo ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June.

Why is this important

The “citizen-initiated” amendment process gives pro choice activists the opportunity to circumvent a vehemently anti reproductive rights state government by letting Ohio voters directly decide the issue.

What happens next

Under state law, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s staff now has 10 calendar days to determine whether the ballot summary submitted by the group is a “fair and truthful” summary of what the proposed amendment would do. It’s not uncommon for issue campaigns to fail in their first attempt to qualify for the ballot, which could add to the time crunch the group faces while trying to get the issue in front of state voters.

If the group successfully gets the summary language past the attorney general’s office, it then would be allowed to begin collecting the 413,488 valid voter signatures — or 10% of the turnout for last year’s general election for governor — ahead of a July 5 deadline needed to qualify for the statewide ballot in November.

Article in part by Andrew J. Tobias | cleveland.com

Steps to getting issue on November 2023 ballot

1. Once the initial 1,000 signatures are submitted, the Ohio AG has ten (10) days in which to determine if proposed language is “fair and truthful”.
2. The Ohio Ballot Board determines if the constitutional amendment is one issue or must be divided into separate ones.
3. Advocates must collect 413,488 valid signatures from at least 44 counties by July 5, 2023, to make the November 2023 ballot.
4. All signatures are submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office who then sends each county’s petitions to the respective local county board of elections to check to ensure if the signatures from that county are valid.
5. The Ohio Ballot Board certifies the language and checks if it creates a monopoly. If all the above is good, the issue is then certified to be on the November 2023 ballot.

The full proposed amendment summary and text
can be viewed here in PDF format.