Ohio: Pro Life groups condemn proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion past viability
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Pro-Life advocates have resoundingly condemned a proposed amendment to Ohio’s state constitution that would guarantee access to abortion beyond viability without the need for parental consent in the case of minors. With its summary language approved last week, the constitutional amendment may be placed on November ballots.
The amendment was introduced by the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights and Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom in response to last year’s decision by the US Supreme Court to withdraw the federal right to abortion up to viability which had been conferred by the high court in 1973.
The proposal reads: A. Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on: “A. 1. contraception; 2. fertility treatment; 3. continuing one’s own pregnancy; 4. miscarriage care; and 5. abortion. B. The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either: 1. An individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or 2. A person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.”
Joining other major anti-abortion organizations in lambasting the proposed amendment, SBA Pro-Life America said in a website statement: “Regardless of what your views are on abortion, everyone should be concerned about this radical ballot measure that eliminates basic health care regulations and contains no protections for women’s safety. It’s extremely concerning that it would take Ohio’s law on parental consent off the books and it would forbid mothers and fathers from being able to have a say or any knowledge if their daughter seeks an abortion.”
The proposal now goes to the Ohio Ballot Board and then to the signature-gathering phase. Under Ohio law, 413,446 signatures across at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties must be collected in time to make the ballot on November 7.
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