November 7th saw a handful of states hold special elections. Among them was Ohio, and they had some radical agenda items on the ballot, with abortion at the forefront. Ever since Roe v Wade was overturned, OH, CO, and a handful of other states have been rushing to ensure abortions remain legal in their states. Guided by hardcore left abortionists, many are claiming that the woman should have the right to choose right up until the moment of delivery. Thankfully, most are a tad less murderous.
With polls closing at 7:30 pm Eastern, many felt that there would be a long wait in this tight contest. If passed, the “right” to abortion would become a part of the OH state constitution.
Just an hour later, Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report declared this part of the election over. The amendment titled “Issue 1” passed, with only 40% voting against it, and according to the New York Times 27% of the votes counted. By the time the votes were totally tallied, more of the conservatives had come out, but still only reaching 43.4%; not enough to stop it.
Back in August, a provision to require constitutional amendments to go from needing 50% plus one vote to pass up to 60% was rejected by OH voters. Had it passed, the ability to get this bill passed would have likely failed, and at the least, the count would have gone on longer.
With its passage, this bill is likely to be considered irreversible. At least without another change to the state’s constitution, which would require yet another ballot measure. Laws passed by the state legislature will be useless against it now, as the constitution trumps all. This difficult time in Ohio history was made possible through extreme campaigning.
The pro-abortion groups in OH poured millions into their campaign as a vote for Issue 1 was a “freedom” vote. Playing from the conservative deck, they claimed that this prevented government overreach, and helped keep things the faith and family planning at the forefront of their minds. Back in 2022 when Kansas and Michigan had abortion on their ballots these groups successfully used the same tactics there.
As critics of the ballot showed, the way this was written this constitutional amendment could make some huge changes to the way things are done in Ohio. Parental rights could be wiped out, late-term and even partial-birth abortions could now become commonplace, and even open the door to allowing minors to have sex-change procedures.
Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine is a conservative voice and a scholar of the Constitution. He argued that if passed it could allow minors to receive abortions without parental consent. A fair and lucid argument, that found activists claiming was wrong. Instead, they insisted that it was simply about restoring the rights of Roe v. Wade, and that was it.
When the ACLU was called out on the issue, as they had written most of the language, they reluctantly agreed that critics were right about their concerns. Jessie Hill, an attorney for the ACLU of Ohio was clear about the intent. “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.”
This difference not only played out in the voting, it played out in campaign fundraising. The Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights pulled in $29 million $29 million in donations from September 8th on, with pro-life groups only pulling together $10 million. Such a stark difference in fundraising is not only a key indicator of who is willing to buy the votes, but who can buy the votes.
Passage of a change like this is not only not done easily, but it’s not done cheaply. Failing to raise funds for the unborn babies is a horrible thing. The good people of OH don’t need this kind of change, and yet they got it. We need to protect the unborn here in America. Other states need to learn from this failure and not let it happen there.
