Voters in this red state enshrined abortion rights. Republicans simply ignored them

Try as they did to mislead and deceive Ohio voters about the horror of protecting abortion access and other forms of reproductive care in the state constitution, Ohio Republicans — from the governor on down — failed to fool 57 percent of the electorate in 2023.

Voters from across the political spectrum saw through the preposterous propaganda meant to dissuade Ohioans from enshrining the right of every individual “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” in the Ohio Constitution.

The decisive passage of Ohio’s Issue 1 amendment to preserve the right to make those decisions, including abortion, was essentially people telling politicians to butt out of personal medical choices they had no business meddling in.

Despite the deliberately loaded ballot wording, inserted by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to subvert the referendum, voters channeled their Midwest sensibility of justice.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion, it was up to states to either restore that half-century right or repeal it.

Ohio voters chose a rational middle ground to restore a woman’s reproductive autonomy on private medical options that included, but were not limited to “contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.”

It was not unreasonable, a voting majority concluded on Nov. 7, 2023, that the state be barred from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing, prohibiting, interfering with or discriminating against this constitutional right to reproductive freedom — unless it demonstrates “that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.”

Put a pin in that caveat.

Voters agreed that abortion may be banned after fetal viability, but no procedure could be prohibited “if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

Contrary to claims made during the Issue 1 campaign, late-term abortions are extremely rare, representing less than 1 percent of all abortions in the U.S.

Despite the fear-mongering and falsehoods thrown at Ohio voters weighing the abortion rights amendment, despite the ton of money dumped to defeat the measure by the Catholic Church, the citizen’s initiative is now Article I, Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution.

The people spoke. Resoundingly.

Yet, ever since, a clear majority of the statewide constituency secured the constitutionally protected right to make reproductive decisions without government interference, the government has interfered.

Ohio Republicans signaled their intent from the beginning not to respect the will of voters on self-determination, but to override it.

The day after the amendment passed, more than two dozen GOP lawmakers in the legislature signed a statement to “do everything in [their] power” to maintain restrictive abortion laws on the books in Ohio.

A handful of anti-abortion zealots even tried to seize “exclusive authority over implementing” the constitutional amendment from the judiciary “to prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts.”

“This isn’t the end,” huffed then-Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (and current Ohio House Speaker) who promised “a revolving door of ballot campaigns to repeal or replace” the reproductive rights amendment.

Former Speaker Jason Stephens warned “the legislature has multiple paths that we will explore” to undercut the people’s wishes.

Ohio’s Republican attorney general is still soaking taxpayers with endless litigation to preserve parts of the state’s six-week abortion ban that multiple courts have ruled unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, Ohio Statehouse Republicans can’t stop coming up with new legislation in 2025 to burden or impede individuals from accessing their constitutional right to abortion.

Ohio House Bill 347 would reinstate a 24-hour waiting period for abortions (along with state-mandated information and in-person visits) unrequired in other medical procedures.

Never mind that the existing law, blocked by an Ohio judge as unconstitutional, is still in court.

Two other anti-abortion bills in the Ohio House could potentially limit access to medication abortion (used safely in the U.S. for 20 years) and threaten non-abortion healthcare for low-income Ohioans by banning Medicaid reimbursements to clinics that provide abortions.

But the real topper by Republican lawmakers — less than two years after voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion — is Ohio House Bill 370, sweeping legislation that would impose a near-total ban on the procedure.

The proposal would redefine legal personhood to begin at conception, effectively granting fertilized eggs full legal protection under Ohio law.

After their setback in 2023, the Republican supermajority in the legislature has attempted to regulate, restrict or outlaw abortion as if nothing changed.

Pending bills that would undermine legalized abortion in the state are designed to overturn the popular vote of Ohioans.

GOP lawmakers in other red states are following similar playbooks with voters who approve progressive measures Republicans oppose.

The unaccountable autocrats, who erode the power of direct democracy, do not answer to the gerrymandered constituents they take for granted or feel any obligation to adhere to the letter of any law they dislike.

Ohio’s Republican overlords openly defy the state constitution on redistricting and abortion rights to get their way no matter what a majority of folks in their state wants.

Question is, will voters cede self-governance for team loyalty at the ballot box, or will they demand due respect from the elected representatives who work for them and loyalty to the rule of law over party?

• Marilou Johanek is a veteran Ohio print and broadcast journalist who has covered state and national politics as a longtime newspaper editorial writer and columnist.