Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has approved a petition for a proposed abortion law amendment, clearing the first hurdle to the November 2023 ballot.
The proposed constitutional change would pose risks to women by removing current protections for women’s health and safety, eliminating parental consent and notification provisions, and allowing abortion on demand up to the point of delivery.
According to the amendment, “every person has the right to make and implement their own reproductive decisions, including, but not limited to, decisions regarding contraception, infertility treatment, continuing their own pregnancy, care for miscarriage and abortion.”
In the letter, Yost, an anti-abortion Republican, explained his decision to adopt the pro-abortion measure, saying he was bound by the law and the obligation to certify the amendment as long as it met the legal requirements.
“The rule of law necessarily means that there are limits on the decision-making of those temporarily exercising public power,” Yost’s letter reads. “This includes prosecutors who will not enforce criminal statutes they disagree with, or presidents who want to take actions that are not authorized by the Constitution or Congress. This also applies to attorneys general, who are required by narrow law to decide on the truthfulness of the summary.”
SBA Pro-Life America state affairs director Sue Liebel warned against the amendment, saying it would put women’s lives at risk by eliminating indispensable health regulations.
“No matter what your views on abortion, everyone should be concerned about this radical ballot measure that eliminates basic health care regulations and provides no protection for women’s safety. “It is extremely disturbing that it would strike out Ohio’s parental consent law and prohibit mothers and fathers from having any say or knowledge when their daughter seeks an abortion,” Liebel said.
Others warn that the measure is anti-parental and anti-woman because it would eliminate Ohio’s current law requiring parental involvement in a daughter’s decision to have an abortion as a minor.
