Ohio votes to protect abortion rights in post-Roe referendum

Joe Biden, who has made the issue a keystone of his presidency, says Ohioans ‘voted to protect their fundamental freedoms’.

Abortion rights supporters celebrate in Columbus on Tuesday night. Picture: AFP

Residents of Ohio have voted to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Republican-run state’s constitution, US media projected, in what could be a bellwether for an issue that is likely to dominate next year’s presidential race.

With a little more than half of the votes counted, CNN and ABC News said the referendum on so-called Issue 1 would pass with more “yes” votes, approving an amendment to the state constitution that would affirm the right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions”, including abortion.

President Joe Biden, who has made abortion rights a keystone issue of his presidency, said Ohioans “voted to protect their fundamental freedoms”. “Ohioans and voters across the country rejected attempts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose ­extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy,” Mr Biden said.

Before the 7.30pm close of the polls in the midwestern state, Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old Republican presidential candidate, said he was against the measure to explicitly guarantee abortion rights in the state charter. “The reason I’m voting no … is that I’m pro-life,” Mr Ramas­wamy said. If the amendment were adopted, “I don’t think that’s a good move for the country.”

By contrast, “Jill”, 43, said she voted ‘yes’ “as a woman to protect my reproductive rights”.

With the 2024 election looming, America’s political watchers have their eyes on Ohio, where activists on both sides of the reproductive rights issue have waged a fierce, multi-million-dollar campaign. The state voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Tuesday’s vote comes 17 months after the Supreme Court struck down the national right to abortion, paving the way for some states to completely outlaw the practice, even in cases of rape or incest. In Ohio, the reversal of the 1973 Roe v Wade decision triggered a state law that would ban all abortions after a heartbeat is detected in the womb – usually around six weeks of gestation, before many people even know they are pregnant. The law is suspended as it winds its way through legal challenges, meaning that for now it is still possible to obtain an abortion in Ohio up to about 22 weeks of pregnancy.

But it sparked a national outcry for the short time it was allowed to remain in effect last year, when a 10-year-old rape survivor was forced to travel to neighbouring Indiana for an abortion after being denied care at home.

The “yes” vote victory enshrines the right for the state’s residents to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions”, including on abortion. It does, however, allow abortions to be prohibited after “foetal ­viability” unless a doctor believes a patient’s health is in danger.

Over the past year multiple states, including California, Kansas and Kentucky, voted to preserve abortion rights or voted down efforts to restrict them.

AFP