November 2023 Ohio Issue 1
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The 2023 Ohio reproductive rights initiative,[2] officially titled "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety" and listed on the ballot as Issue 1,[3] was a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment adopted on November 7, 2023, by a majority (56.8%) of voters. It codified reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution, including contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and abortion up to the point of fetal viability,[lower-alpha 1] restoring Roe v. Wade-era access to abortion in Ohio.[4]
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Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety[1] | |||||||||||||
Results | |||||||||||||
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Yes: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% No: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% |
In 2019, the state legislature passed a near-total ban on abortion in Ohio, without exceptions for rape or incest.[5] The statute became active after the Supreme Court of the United States held in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. While the ban was in place, multiple children fled the state seeking abortions after being raped.[6] One such case involved a ten-year-old girl from Columbus, Ohio, who traveled to Indiana (where abortion was legal at the time) for the procedure, generating national attention and becoming a central campaign issue.[6] A state court put the ban on hold while a challenge alleging it violated the Ohio Constitution was heard.[7] Several members of the "no" campaign had called for bans on forms of birth control that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg and in vitro fertilization if the initiative failed.[8][9]
The "yes" campaign drew support from Ohio medical organizations,[10] doctors,[10] economists,[11] trade unions,[12] editorial boards,[12] reproductive rights groups,[12] and several religious organizations.[13] They argued that a "yes" vote would further limited government, protect bodily autonomy and religious liberty, while preventing interference with patient-physician privacy.[9] The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology, alongside other professional associations of doctors, campaigned for Issue 1.[9][14] In late August 2023, former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, condemned six-week abortion bans, including Ohio's, as going "too far" and a "terrible mistake".[15][16] Religious groups were generally divided on the issue.[lower-alpha 2][13]
Ohio is a moderately conservative state – Donald Trump easily won the state over Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election – so the results of the referendum were seen as a bellwether for the national opinion on abortion rights.[18] Voters have supported the "pro-choice" side along overwhelming and bipartisan margins in referendums since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.[19][20] Ohio's Issue 1 was the first time since the Dobbs decision that voters of a conservative state were asked whether to enshrine abortion protections in their state constitution. As such, the referendum's approval was widely interpreted as evidence for a national consensus in favor of broad abortion rights.[21][22]
Among those between 18 and 24 years old, an estimated 76% voted "yes" on Issue 1.[23] Some conservative political analysts and commentators called a continued alliance with the anti-abortion movement "untenable" and an "electoral disaster", and urged the party to adopt a more pro-choice stance on the issue.[24] Exit polling indicated that 61% of Ohioans agree that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, versus only 37% who disagree.[25]