Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost certified a petition for a proposed amendment to enshrine abortion, clearing the first hurdle to make the November 2023 ballot.
The proposed constitutional amendment would pose risks for women by removing current health and safety protections for women, abolish parental consent and notification laws, and enable abortion on demand up until the moment of birth.
According to the amendment, “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.”
In a letter, Yost, an anti-abortion Republican, explained his decision to advance the pro-abortion measure saying he was bound by law and duty to certify the amendment as long as it met legal requirements.
“The rule of law necessarily means that there are limits to the decision-making of those who temporarily exercise public authority,” Yost’s letter reads. “This is true of prosecutors who will not enforce criminal statutes with which they disagree or presidents who wish to take actions not authorized by the Constitution or Congress. It is also true of attorneys general required by a narrow law to make a decision about the truthfulness of a summary.”
SBA Pro-Life America’s State Affairs Director Sue Liebel cautioned against the amendment, saying it would endanger women’s lives by doing away with basic health regulations.
“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,” Liebel said.
Others warn that the measure is anti-parent and anti-women since it would eliminate a current Ohio law requiring parental involvement in their daughter’s decision to get an abortion as a minor.