Ohio enshrines right to abortion amid backlash over Roe v Wade reversal

People in Ohio have voted to enshrine the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care in the US state's constitution.

Tuesday's results were the latest victory for abortion rights supporters since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last year, which had generally protected a right to have an abortion in the USA.

Ohio became the seventh state to vote this way after the landmark ruling. Arizona, Missouri and others are expected to vote on the issue in 2024.

“The future is bright, and tonight we can celebrate this win for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights,” Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, which led support for the amendment, told a jubilant crowd of supporters.

Ohio’s constitutional amendment, titled Issue 1 on the vote sheet, included some of the most protective language for abortion access of any statewide ballot initiative since the Roe v. Wade ruling.

Opponents had argued the changes would threaten parental rights, allow unrestricted gender surgeries for minors and revive “partial birth” abortions, which are federally banned.

The outcome of the intense election could set the trend for 2024, when Democrats hope the issue will encourage their voters to help keep President Joe Biden in the White House.

Heather Williams, interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, said the vote in favour of abortion rights was a “huge victory.”

“Ohio’s resounding support for this constitutional amendment reaffirms Democratic priorities and sends a strong message to the state GOP that reproductive rights are non-negotiable,” she said in a statement.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated the amendment's win, saying efforts to ban or severely restrict abortion represent a minority view across the country.

Harris, who rallied supporters during a virtual gathering last weekend, hinted the issue would be central to Democrats' campaigning next year for Congress and the presidency.

She said: “Extremists are pushing for a national abortion ban that would criminalise reproductive health care in every single state in our nation.”

Public polling shows about two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal in the earliest stages of pregnancy, this is underscored in both Democratic and deeply Republican states since the justices overturned Roe in June 2022.

Before the Ohio vote, statewide initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont had either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine the right.

Two leading national anti-abortion groups said they would learn from Ohio results but would be undeterred in trying to defeat abortion-rights measures planned for next year's ballots.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said her group would focus on promoting “compassionate pro-life messages for women and their children" to counter what she labeled a “campaign of fear” from abortion-rights supporters.

“For us, it’s very clear that post-Roe America, our movement is very much a marathon, not a sprint,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America said.

The latest vote followed an August special election called by the Republicans that aimed at making it harder to pass future constitutional changes by increasing the threshold from a simple majority vote to 60%.

The proposal was in part to undermine the abortion-rights measure decided on Tuesday.

Voters overwhelmingly defeated that special election question, setting the stage for the high-stakes autumn abortion campaign.

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