On Aug. 8, Ohioans are being asked to vote on an anti-democratic scheme that would help negate protections for women who wish to make informed reproductive health care decisions without interference from the state. Issue 1, if passed by a simple majority vote, would require any future amendments to pass with a newly imposed 60% margin. There are two primary reasons the GOP is giving for seeking this change.
Their primary argument is the “Save the Baby” trope. Republicans are hoping that Issue 1 will pass and hinder the adoption of the reproductive rights amendment set to be on the ballot in November. Pass Issue 1, they say, and save the babies. Never mind that failure of the amendment would force all Ohioans to buckle under to a minority religious/philosophical demand. The GOP’s self-righteous emotional harangues assume their opinions should trump everyone else’s right to make their own informed decisions.
Polling shows most voters reject this viewpoint, so, the GOP is offering a disingenuous secondary smokescreen: They claim the Ohio Constitution is just too long because it is so easy to amend, and that has led to “special out-of-state interests” impacting our legal system.
But this is gaslighting, pure and simple. It’s true that 227 amendments were put before Ohio voters since 1913, and 127 them passed — but only 19 of those were initiated by “special interests,” aka Ohio citizens. All the other amendments that have crowded our constitution were put on the ballot by the Ohio legislature itself, which doesn’t need to collect signatures to get amendments placed on the ballot. Claiming to be concerned about out-of-state special interests, the GOP somehow never mentions the fact that the pro-Issue 1 “Save Our Constitution” political action committee gladly took more than $1 million from a right-wing Illinois billionaire to fund its political ads.
It’s apparent that Republicans sense they can’t win a fair election on this issue. Mere months ago, they decided to do away with special, expensive August elections, but then they did an extreme flip-flop and put Issue 1 before voters in August instead of waiting until November. Why? They just want to make it harder for women to retain control over their own bodies.
Lately, Republicans have been advancing the slogan “Got Freedom Yet?” I think the better question would be, “Want Freedom Back?” The answer to that is simple: To retain our rights in Ohio, Vote no on Issue 1 in August and yes for the protection of women’s reproductive rights in November.
Tony Marconi
Delaware
