Pro-abortion groups want to enshrine abortion in the Ohio state constitution via a proposed amendment that will not just threaten the lives of unborn babies but would also pose a risk to the rights of parents.
The initiative, proposed by Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom — a coalition of eight pro-abortion and LGBT groups — and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, would ensconce abortion under the premise that “every individual has a right” to ending life in the womb and other “reproductive decisions.”
The ballot initiative claims abortion could still be banned by the Ohio legislature after fetal viability, which occurs around 20 weeks gestation, but carved out an exception for any abortions deemed necessary by a doctor to “protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
Abortion shills in Kansas used a similar playbook to deceive voters into rejecting a proposal that would have declared there is no constitutional right in Kansas to abortion, taxpayer-funded or otherwise. With the help of out-of-state donors and outside groups, opponents of the pro-life amendment raised millions to fund lies and expand Midwestern abortion operations.
To prevent the same kind of duplicity from wreaking havoc on their state, Ohio Republicans passed a resolution on May 10 that let will voters decide in an August special election if constitutional amendments should only pass with a supermajority, 60 percent threshold vote.
GOP legislators’ efforts to enable voters to prevent the flippant passage of constitutional changes were smeared by local news outlets, with paid Planned Parenthood activist and chair of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom Lauren Blauvelt accusing the lawmakers of “working overtime to dismantle democracy as we know it.”
“This entire effort slaps voters in the face and betrays our democracy,” The Columbus Dispatch’s editorial board agreed.
“Ohio Republicans try to change rules to defeat abortion rights amendment,” The Washington Post alleged.
Ohio law currently states voters can amend the state constitution with only a simple majority vote, something that abortion activists desperately want to keep ahead of the expected vote on the abortion amendment in November.
Several opponents of the GOP have tried to stifle the August election but their attempts have been rejected by Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Republicans who say the current simple majority doesn’t protect Ohioans or the state constitution from the influences of special interest groups.
The proposed supermajority amendment “merely asks Ohioans if they want to approve a 60% threshold or not by voting in a free and fair election,” Rep. Brian Stewart said. “If that is really someone’s idea of an attack on democracy, they need to turn off cable news, log off Twitter and come back to reality. It’s not the end of the debate.”
Several pro-life groups have warned voters that the vagueness of the abortion amendment opens the door for not just an assault on unborn lives, but also on parental rights.
One advertisement from Protect Women Ohio specifically asserts that the amendment’s language barring the state from interfering with an individual’s “right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” could easily “cut” parents “out of the biggest decision” of their child’s life, including abortion or even the deforming genital surgeries and chemical castration that transgender activists promote to vulnerable teens.
A local news “fact-check” of the advertisement deemed PWO’s claim false because the amendment “says nothing about transgender or parental rights.”
Besides the fact that “reproductive decisions” could reasonably be interpreted to include transgender interventions that have a direct effect on a person’s reproductive abilities, the article also failed to mention that the explicit goal of several of the amendment’s proponents is to eradicate laws that require minors to obtain parental consent before undergoing an abortion.
In February, an attorney for the ACLU of Ohio, a member of the ORF coalition, confirmed that if the constitutional amendment passes, laws requiring parents to consent before their teen daughter gets an abortion would not necessarily be enforced.
“When you pass a constitutional amendment, it doesn’t just automatically erase everything and start over. But it would mean that laws that conflict with it cannot be enforced, should not be enforced,” Jessie Hill said.
Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, another member of the ORF coalition and proud supporter of “sex-positive, gender-expansive, and abortion positive” policies, also openly opposes parental consent legislation.
In fact, in 2021, an Ohio state coordinator with URGE lambasted the Buckeye State specifically for requiring a minor to “obtain parental consent or go through a cumbersome and traumatizing process of getting a judicial bypass from the state” to end her unborn baby’s life.
For years now, the group has repeatedly advocated for abolishing laws that require parents to sign off on minors’ weighty decisions, including getting abortions.
“Your daily reminder that parental involvement laws are unethical and must be abolished. Every pregnant person deserves full autonomy over their body and pregnancy, regardless of their age or family situation,” URGE tweeted in July 2020.
In 2019, the group painted parental rights rules as “unnecessary restrictions” that contribute to the “unique barriers” minors seeking abortions might face. URGE specifically committed to “mobilize on state and local levels” to ensure their anti-parent agenda would be accomplished. Planned Parenthood also claimed parental consent laws put “youth at heightened risk.”
Similarly, in 2021, URGE posted a tweet claiming that “young ppl cannot be free until we’re given the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, lives, & futures.”
“Parental involvement laws block this & violate our humanity,” the tweet concludes.
To this day, URGE’s website features several articles promoting the end of parental rights when it comes to abortion.
