Ohio abortion access amendment will appear on November ballot, state says
An amendment that would create a constitutional right to an abortion in Ohio will be voted on later this year, as the secretary of state's office announced on Tuesday that the group pushing to get the measure on the November general election ballot had submitted enough valid signatures to do so.
Of the more than 700,000 signatures submitted by the amendment's backers in early July, the secretary of state has cleared 495,938 -- enough to pass the 413,446-signature threshold required to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
The amount of signatures also exceeded the state requirement in 55 counties, more than the necessary 44 county distribution. Secretary of State Frank LaRose wrote in letters to petitioners for adding the ballot measure, that in the absence of any countervailing legal orders, the proposed amendment will be put up for a vote.
In a statement, supporters of the measure cheered that development.
"Every person deserves respect, dignity, and the right to make reproductive health care decisions, including those related to their own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion free from government interference," said Lauren Blauvelt and Dr. Lauren Beene, executive committee members of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the coalition behind the ballot measure. "Now that the petition drive is complete, we're eager to continue the campaign to enshrine those rights in Ohio's Constitution and ensure that Ohioans will never again be subject to draconian reproductive health care policies imposed by extremists."
The margin of victory needed to make the amendment law will be determined in two weeks, in an unusually-timed August election that has left elections officials scrambling. Republican state lawmakers set up the special election in a last-minute bid to raise the voter threshold needed to adopt a constitutional amendment from a simple majority to 60%.
"If any outside group believes its ideas are worthy of inclusion in Ohio's Constitution, then they should be able to earn the widespread public support that a 60% vote margin will require," Ohio state Rep. Brian Stewart, a Republican, said in defense of the August election.
Abortion rights groups have blasted the special election as anti-democratic.
"They have tried everything under the sun to stop this," Marcela Azevedo, president of the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, said. "These are extreme measures and, to be honest, desperate."
Abortion is currently legal in Ohio through 22 weeks of pregnancy, or most of the way through the second trimester. After the overturning of the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade, Ohio lawmakers passed a "heartbeat bill" that banned doctors from performing abortions after cardiac activity was detected -- which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy -- though the earliest restrictions are currently blocked in court.
The proposed amendment would establish a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" with "reasonable limits."
ABC News' Jeremy Edwards and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
