The GOP's religious fundamentalists in Ohio are still coming for women’s reproductive rights

The forced birth movement won’t stop!

In early August, the voters of Ohio were asked to cast a ballot on the GOP championed proposal to raise the threshold to amend the state’s constitution from 50% to 60%. This vote was seen by all as of proxy fight on reproductive freedom given in November, voters would be asked whether to amend the Constitution to enshrine reproductive rights. The GOP—with this ballot question-- were simply trying to change the rules to continue their tyranny of the minority.

In the lead up to the vote, GOP Senator JD Vance urged people to support the anti-democratic measure telling voters it would be a close election decided by a “a few thousand people.” At the time, he predicted this ballot proposal could result in “a million and a half, maybe 2 million votes.”

Vance could not have been more wrong! More than 3.1 million voted—not two million. And the results were not decided by a “few thousand” as Vance predicted, but by a whopping margin of 57% opposing the GOP measure with only 43% on board.

However, the next day Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose—one of the loudest voices in favor of this anti-democratic measure and a person who believes his religious views should be the law of Ohio--went on Fox News where he made it clear that the religious fundamentalists were not done. There, he defiantly denounced efforts to protect abortion rights,  declaring, “This is just one battle…We lost one battle but the war continues,” adding, “I've just begun to fight."

Now we are seeing what LaRose and the other religious extremists of Ohio had in mind. Last week, the GOP controlled Ohio Ballot Board—that LaRose chairs--met to discuss the proposed amendment that would broadly guarantee reproductive freedom as part of the state’s Constitution.  

The language of this measure –which had had already been approved by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost after more than 700,000 Ohioans petitioned to place it on the ballot—is very straightforward.  The proposed amendment would ensure the people of Ohio reproductive freedom including the right to “contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.”  In addition, the proposal stated point blank that abortion is only protected as a right up to “fetal viability” (generally accepted as 24 weeks of pregnancy) unless needed “to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

But what did LaRose and the other two GOP members of the Ballot Board do in furtherance of their religious agenda? They voted last week to reject allowing the full text of the proposed reproductive rights amendment on the ballot. Instead, they approved a summary crafted by Republican staffers that would appear on the ballot which contains misleading information and phrasing to falsely convey what the proposed amendment is about. In other words, they are once again trying to cheat.

For starters, the summary passed by the GOP board does not include a list of the reproductive protections spelled out in the ballot measure, including contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, and miscarriage care. Instead, they want voters to think this is only about abortion—not women’s healthcare.

In addition, the Republicans replaced in their summary the word “fetus” with “unborn child,” and changed “pregnant patient” to “pregnant woman.”

While there are other parts of the summary that are dishonest, the most misleading portion of the GOP’s summary is their effort to convince voters that the amendment would empower all women to have abortion up until the day the fetus is delivered. The summary states that the amendment will “always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy,” adding, “regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination, the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health.”

In reality, the amendment plainly states that abortion is only protected as a right up until viability of the fetus-which is defined in the amendment as the “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.” Again, that is typically 24 weeks into pregnancy. The only circumstances that a woman can get an abortion after that time when is based on “the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician” it is needed “to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

LaRose and the GOP defended this deceitful summary by saying that the full text of the amendment will still be available at boards of elections during and posted in voting locations.  

While that is true, the actual amendment people are voting for will NOT be permitted to be on the ballot when voters are in the booth. The GOP literally wants people to vote yes or no on a proposal that they can’t read when voting.  Again, this is more of the GOP’s rejection of democracy.

That’s also why the Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis, leader of the state’s largest anti-abortion group, complimented the language. It’s what religious fundamentalists love.

Thankfully, though, the criticism to the Ohio GOP’s efforts to confuse voters was swift. Last week, Lauren Blauvelt who is a spokesperson for the coalition fighting for reproductive freedom stated, “The entire summary is propaganda.” She added, “The Ballot Board’s members adopted politicized, distorted language for the amendment, exploiting their authority in a last ditch effort to deceive and confuse Ohio voters ahead of the November vote on reproductive freedom.”

Better yet, on Monday, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights  filed a lawsuit asking the Ohio Supreme Court either to order the ballot board to use the full text of the amendment on ballots this November, or to “correct blatant inaccuracies” and use “language that fully, accurately and impartially describes the amendment’s scope and effects.”

“Ohioans are constitutionally entitled to ballot language that allows them to make an informed decision about how they will cast their votes,” the complaint stated.

The good news is that the Ohio Constitution requires the Ohio Ballot Board to prescribe ballot language that does not "mislead, deceive, or defraud" voters. That should greatly help the plaintiffs in their lawsuit.

But just like the Taliban—religious fundamentalists in the United States will never compromise or give up on their goals. Today’s GOP does not care that nearly 70 percent of Americans per a recent Gallup poll say that abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy. The GOP—exactly like the Taliban- only care about imposing their religious beliefs as law.

We are now locked in battle with the GOP over whether women and girls will have fundamental civil rights.  In fact, women in 1973 America after Roe v. Wade was decided had more civil rights than the women of 2023 America.  And if the GOP has their way, they will not only force all women to carry a fetus to term—a human rights violation as the UN Human Rights Office has detailed—but also ban access to forms of birth control that they believe violate their religious beliefs.   

With or without Donald Trump on the ballot, the GOP will still not only be a fascist movement, but also the party of religious fundamentalism that believes their religion should be imposed upon all of us by law.  This is what we are facing in 2023 America.

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