Ohio voters will decide on two statewide ballot measures on Nov. 7, 2023. Along with Issue 2, which would legalize recreational marijuana for adults over 21, voters will also decide on Issue 1, which would create the state constitutional right to abortion and other reproductive matters.
Issue 1 is a constitutional amendment, which would add a new section to Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution. The amendment, titled the Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety, would provide for the right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including but not limited to abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy. The amendment would also allow the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, except when “necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.” Issue 1 would define fetal viability as “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures.”
In Ohio, abortion is currently legal for up to 21 weeks and six days of pregnancy. In 2019, Senate Bill 23, also called the Human Rights and Heartbeat Protection Act, was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine (R). SB 23 was designed to ban abortion when the “unborn human individual the pregnant woman is carrying has a detectable fetal heartbeat,” with exceptions for medical emergencies of the pregnant woman. However, SB 23 was enjoined after the ACLU and other organizations filed a lawsuit against the bill in the Ohio Supreme Court. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
