The referendum Ohio Republicans planned to use to head off a constitutional amendment making abortion access legal in the state went down in ignominious flames yesterday, losing 57%-43%:
Ohioans unequivocally rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the threshold for amending their state constitution, a move by Republicans to try to make it harder to legalize abortion at the ballot box.
The outcome was a resounding victory for Democrats in a state where the left has suffered defeat after defeat in recent years — and a blow to Republicans hoping to block efforts to secure abortion rights. A proposal to codify abortion rights in the state constitution has already made the November ballot and needs only a simple majority to pass. Opponents of Issue 1 — the single item on the August special election ballot — were handily winning with most of the votes tallied.
The right framed Issue 1 as a way to bolster the state constitution against tampering by outside special interests, even as both sides spent millions of dollars in out-of-state cash. But the measure ultimately came down to the looming challenge to the GOP-backed law that virtually outlawed abortion in Ohio following the fall of Roe v. Wade last year.
The outcome means as much for onetime swing-state Ohio and its upcoming electoral battles (a presidential election and highly contested Senate race are both on the horizon in 2024) as it does for a post-Roe landscape that’s forced abortion rights activists to find avenues to circumvent Republican state legislatures.
The forced- birth zealots running the Republican/ Christofascist Party have a big problem on their hands, as they've been told repeatedly by voters:
Last year, voters in deep-red Kansas opted overwhelmingly to keep reproductive rights in their state constitution, the first electoral test of the pro-choice movement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal on abortion rights. Voters in Michigan, Kentucky and Montana did the same. Arizona appears to be the next electoral battleground where voters could be given the opportunity to weigh in directly on abortion, and Florida could soon join the list.
Polling continues to show a majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision. A recent CNN survey found that 64% of adults disapprove of the court’s decision, a figure that CNN says hasn’t diminished since last year, suggesting the momentum for abortion rights that boosted Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections will continue to be a powerful force in 2024.
Any wishful thinking by these crackpots that the voting public wouldn't react to their extremism (Ohio Republicans want a ban on abortions after 6 weeks) is just that -- wishful thinking.
Language making abortion legal in Ohio ("every individual has a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion") will be on the ballot in November 2023. Democrats need to campaign on defending abortion rights, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it's a winner politically.
If the turnout and results from yesterday's voting are any indication (they are), Republicans just screwed the pooch (though after November, the pooch'll be able to get an abortion).
