In advance of a potential November referendum on an proposed constitutional amendment aiming to legalize abortion throughout the state, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said he wants the General Assembly to consider strengthening Ohio’s “heartbeat law.”
According to DeWine, to avoid passage of the abortion amendment, Ohio needs to revisit the heartbeat law and ensure that Ohio has sustainable legislation that voters will not overturn at the polls.
“What people are going to do when they go in to vote is they’re going to compare that (abortion rights) proposition versus the status quo. And what I have said is that I’ve suggested to members of the state legislature is we want to have a bill that protects human life. We also have to have a bill that is sustainable, and that will not be overturned by voters at the polls,” DeWine said during a visit to a local elementary school.
DeWine did not elaborate on whether he wants the General Assembly to draft legislation making the already-enacted heartbeat law more sustainable or whether lawmakers should enact a brand-new piece of legislation.
Ohio’s Heartbeat Law, Senate Bill (SB) 23 passed in 2019 and prohibits abortion if an unborn baby has a detectable heartbeat or around six weeks into a pregnancy. The law went into effect the same day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th, 2022.
Democratic Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins preliminarily blocked the law allowing abortions to continue in Ohio through 21 weeks and 6 days into the pregnancy.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an appeal earlier this year requesting that the Ohio Supreme Court reinstates the heartbeat law as readily as possible.
Now, the Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights have introduced a proposed constitutional amendment called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” which would add a Section 22 to Article 1 of the state constitution.
The proposal would remove Ohio’s parental notification legislation when a minor wants an abortion, as well as the requirement that abortionists adhere to fundamental hospital health and safety standards. The proposal also aims to permit abortions far after babies have heartbeats and can feel pain.
Abortion activists are attempting to collect and submit approximately 412,500 valid signatures by Wednesday, July 5th in order to put the issue before voters in the November election.
DeWine said that he opposes the proposed ballot initiative and says the amendment is not in line with what most Ohioans want.
“That’s not where the majority of Ohioans are today,” DeWine said.
According to Ohio Right to Life President Michael Gonidakis, with the state’s heartbeat law only going into affect for such a short period of time before being blocked, it’s hard to tell what impact the law as it is could have had in that short time span.
Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate are moving quickly to pass the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1 which aims to raise the voting threshold for issues proposed by initiative petitions from 50 percent to 60 percent.
Lawmakers are signing a discharge petition to accelerate the process in an attempt to get HJR 1 on the ballot in a special August election before the pro-abortion activists can get their amendment on the ballot in November.
According to state Representative Scott Wiggam (R-Wayne County) having both amendments on the November ballot is an unacceptable scenario for the Republican Caucus.
“HJR 1 cannot appear on the November ballot if the anti-parent and abortion-on demand initiative is on the same ballot. If that initiative and HJR1 were both to pass we could see the real scenario of abortion on demand placed in Ohio’s constitution with a 50 percent plus 1 vote and then it be protected with the 60 percent threshold because of HJR ‘1s passing. It is well known that this scenario is not acceptable to the Republican Caucus,” Wiggam said.
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou, has spoken out similarly to DeWine saying that the the abortion lobby is “wildly out of step” with Ohio ideals and should be stopped.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Mike DeWine” by Governor Mike DeWine. Background Photo “Ohio State Capitol” by formulanone. CC BY-SA 2.0.
