Physician Opinion: Wondering How Issue 1 Connects to Reproductive Rights?
Dr. Anita Somani | State Representative for Ohio’s 11th House District
Sometimes there is an event that is so significant that you always remember where you were when it happened. June 24th, 2022 was that kind of day for me. It was the day the Dobbs decision came out and it was also the day six Democrats, including myself, learned we had won our lawsuit to run for office. As a result of that eventful day, I am now an Ohio State Representative as part of the minority caucus in the 135th Assembly.
In case you don’t remember the history of why there was a lawsuit, let me refresh your memory. The process of drawing new Congressional and state legislative districts following the 2020 census was full of turmoil between the state legislature, local state courts, federal courts, and the Ohio Supreme Court. On March 2, 2022, the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a redrawn congressional map in a 5-2 vote along party lines which meant the map was only good for four years. On March 18, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to overturn the map so this was used for Ohio's 2022 congressional elections. A federal court ruling on Ohio's legislative maps took effect on May 28, which ordered maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission in February to be used for the state legislative primary on August 2, 2022. The turnout in August was around 10% and cost close to $20 million in taxpayer funds.
Following this election debacle, later in 2022, during the lame duck session of the 134th Assembly, the GOP voted to end August primaries and removed funding for it. The rationale cited was that the turnout was too low and the cost too high - in other words, the August elections were a bad idea. They also tried to pass the equivalent of Issue 1 which would raise the threshold to 60% for a constitutional amendment. During this same time frame as a result of the Dobbs decision, a group of Ohio physicians along with other advocacy groups submitted the Reproductive Freedom Constitutional Amendment. The Republican Attorney General and the Republican-controlled Ohio Ballot Board approved the language but Cincinnati Right to Life sued to prevent signatures from being gathered. Fortunately, the Ohio Supreme Court let the Amendment proceed and over the last five months volunteers have been collecting signatures and will submit at least 413,488 valid signatures on July 5, 2023. They actually submitted over 700,000 signatures!
Back to the Ohio State House where the GOP majority had passed the Heartbeat Bill in 2019 which then went into effect on June 24th but was blocked by injunction in September. Thankfully, abortion is still legal in Ohio up to 20 weeks but the Ohio Right to Life couldn’t stand by and let all of its efforts to overturn abortion go to waste. So they turned to the Statehouse GOP.
Because there is a super majority at the State House thanks to gerrymandering, the Issue 1 proposal passed on party lines against massive protests. Initially, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said this was about stopping special interests from interfering in Ohio. However, in June, he was quoted as saying “This is 100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution. The left wants to jam it in there this coming November.”
As you can see from this timeline, the Reproductive Rights Amendment triggered the push to get Issue 1 on the ballot. But no matter where you stand on abortion, Issue 1 would take away the last way that citizens have to impact legislation. When you have gerrymandered districts that let politicians pick their voters and a super-majority that doesn’t listen to the people the only option left is constitutional amendments. Issue 1 raises the threshold for an amendment to 60% even though it passed out of the State House with a simple majority. Even more egregious is that it would require signatures from all 88 counties instead of 44 and there would be no cure period where additional signatures could be collected. Don’t be fooled. This is a special election for special interest groups. Issue 1 will shred our constitution, it will end majority rule in our state, and it will destroy the sacred principle of “one person, one vote”.
VOTE NO on Issue 1 to support democracy in Ohio and allow citizens to continue to have a voice in government till we can pass fair districts.