July 31, 2023
Ohio Republicans Want to Rewrite the Rules to Thwart Abortion and LGBTQ Rights
By Peter Lucas
Conservative interest groups are pushing Issue 1, which would require a supermajority for any petition-based constitutional amendments to pass.
(Drew Angerer / Getty Image)
Once synonymous with Midwestern placidity, Ohio has become the epicenter of an unprecedented assault on civil and reproductive rights. Bills banning gender affirming care for LGBTQ youth and trans athletes from participation in women’s sports have been introduced in the statehouse, and House Bill 245 would prohibit drag performances from being held in public.
Now, Republicans in the state are attempting to thwart voters’ ability to amend Ohio’s Constitution. A ballot measure in the August special election could impede a proposed amendment to preserve abortion rights by requiring petition-based amendments to pass with 60 percent of the vote, rather than a simple majority. The proposed measure is “abandoning a fundamental policy that has been part of the Ohio Constitution since 1912,” said Steven H. Steinglass, an expert in Ohio constitutional history. If the measure is approved, it will make passing the abortion rights amendment, introduced by Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, much more difficult. “These politicians know that their radical views on abortion care can’t win a fair vote, so they’re rigging the system,” said Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom.
These initiatives have been primarily driven by conservative interest groups, with the Ohio-based Christian advocacy organization the Center for Christian Virtue playing an outsize role in shaping Republican policy. Right-wing billionaire Richard Ulhein has spent millions funding the “Save Our Constitution PAC,” which advocates for the ballot measure known as Issue 1. “Our Constitution has been hijacked by special interests and legislators have an opportunity—and duty—to stop it by voting to put the Constitution Protection Amendment on the August ballot,” reads the PAC’s website. Meanwhile, groups like Protect Women Ohio have attempted to connect abortion and trans rights with misleading ads. “If passed, this dangerous initiative would abolish parental notification and consent requirements which protect minor girls from undergoing an abortion or even sex change surgery without her parents’ knowledge or involvement.”
