Republicans may have won the war against Roe v. Wade, but the battles continue. Issue 1 is advantage No. 1 for the Democrats.
The Issue 1 ballot proposal in Ohio would have required any proposed state constitutional amendment to achieve a 60% approval of voters instead of a simple majority. In last Tuesday’s election, voters said “no.”
Issues of reproductive choice were not actually on that ballot, but this measure was a proxy for an upcoming vote. Anti-abortion rights interests are working to thwart a November vote on a constitutional amendment that would guarantee abortion rights in Ohio. Then voters will be asked to codify the right to make their own health care decisions — for example, on contraception, abortion, fertility treatments and miscarriage care.
Anti-abortion rights strategists in the GOP are pushing for ultra-restrictive state laws to govern reproductive rights. That strategy is boomeranging.
If Issue 1 had passed, it would have required a much higher threshold to get the November measure through.
That brought voters out Tuesday, in the dog days of summer, in a higher than expected turnout for an August election in Ohio. Issue 1 was defeated, as 57% of voters opposed the measure.
Proponents of more restrictive laws were counting on a low turnout. They miscalculated. They have been miscalculating a lot lately.
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Six states have held elections testing questions of reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned. “In every election — including in conservative states like Kansas — voters have supported abortion rights,” The Associated Press reported.”In Kansas, 59% voted to preserve abortion rights protections, while in Michigan 57% favored an amendment that put protections in the state constitution. Last year, 59% of Ohio voters said abortion should generally be legal, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate.”
Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told the AP: “Republicans’ deeply unpopular war on women’s rights will cost them district after district, and we will remind voters of their toxic anti-abortion agenda every day until November.”
A recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that few Americans support full abortion bans, even in red states where they are already in place.
That survey, taken in late June, indicates that views have not changed much in the last year. “Overall, about two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal, but only about a quarter say it should always be legal and only about 1 in 10 say it should always be illegal,” the AP reported.
The poll found that 73% of respondents said abortion should be allowed at six weeks of pregnancy.
The Democrats should hammer at the issue of reproductive choice to energize the base ahead of the 2024 elections.
If former President Donald Trump is the 2024 Republican nominee, Democrats should trot him out as the ultimate boogeyman. Trump’s devoted efforts to stack the Supreme Court with conservatives ensured the end of Roe. Democrats can lay the blame for that at his feet.
Clout-heavy Democrats are pouring money and resources into the fight, even across state lines. For example, Gov. J.B. Pritzker dropped big bucks to help tip the scales in Ohio. The billionaire governor personally donated $250,000 to Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom PAC, Politico reported last week, the second-largest donation by an individual this year.
Pritzker also dispatched some of his top political advisers “to help with strategic support in defeating the Ohio ballot measure. Pritzker team members sat in on the steering committee meetings for Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom,” according to Politico.
“What went on in Ohio leading up to the vote last night was solely an effort to stop pro-choice forces from passing an amendment to their constitution. That’s all it was about,” Pritzker said Wednesday at an unrelated event. “And I’m proud to have supported the ‘vote no.’ That’s the side that supported choice, and it was a resounding victory — as you saw in 2022 in so many places around the country — a resounding victory for those of us who are pro-choice and for the people who live in those states who just want to preserve their reproductive freedom.”
GOP, take heed.
“The problem we have is too many of them run in very strong pro-life districts. And if they were to vote in a more moderate fashion for a, say, 15-week abortion ban, they would be run (out of) office in their next primary,” Tim Schneider, former chair of the Illinois Republican Party, told WLS- Ch. 7.
That’s a big problem.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Monday. Write to her at [email protected].
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