Well, that didn’t take long. Ohio Republicans hold a supermajority in the legislature, and they hate, hate, HATE that these annoying people whom they are technically supposed to serve keep getting in the way of their agenda. The people spoke loud and clear that they wanted reproductive freedom in Ohio, so what does the House do? Make an announcement on their legislative official website that they aren’t going to listen.
RELATED STORY: Ohio Republicans lay plans to overturn this week's election
In its entirety:
DECEPTIVE OHIO ISSUE 1 MISLED THE PUBLIC BUT DOESN'T REPEAL OUR LAWS
COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio Legislators will be introducing several bills to address this issue in the coming weeks.
“Foreign billionaires don't get to make Ohio laws,” said Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), pointing to millions from billionaires outside America that helped fund Issue 1. Gross added, “This is foreign election interference, and it will not stand.”
“Issue 1 doesn't repeal a single Ohio law, in fact, it doesn't even mention one,” said Representative Bill Dean (R-Xenia). “The amendment’s language is dangerously vague and unconstrained and can be weaponized to attack parental rights or defend rapists, pedophiles, and human traffickers.”
Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) said, “We will continue to be a voice for every child in their mother's womb who cannot speak for themselves.”
Representative Beth Lear (R-Galena) stated, “No amendment can overturn the God given rights with which we were born.”
To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts with Issue 1, Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative. The Ohio legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings and input from legal experts on both sides.
They have already been meeting to determine how to limit the impact of this important constitutional amendment that received close to 60% support. The Ohio House Speaker, Republican Jason Stephens, said the legislature has “multiple paths” to circumvent the amendment.
They have promised to strip the judiciary of their right to interpret abortion rights. A Cleveland State University professor, Dr. Abigail Moncrieff, said she expects that this gerrymandered supermajority GOP legislature will “re-define” terms in the amendment. For example, even though the amendment says doctors must be free to determine viability without interference, the legislature may try to define “viability” to be at anywhere from 15-21 weeks. They may also try to define other terms, like “health” of the mother, in very narrow terms to make it pointless.
Another option they are exploring is putting yet another constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024 to ban abortion at 15 weeks—and this time begrudgingly have it include exceptions for rape and incest. (I doubt they will do this one since they know it will be defeated and drive up turnout.)
It was pointed out to me that although abortion amendments that restore a woman’s right to control her own body have been dominating in red states across the land, no Republican governor has lost their seat since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Being from Florida, I can tell you that the populace here always supports progressive amendments, albeit minimum wage, marijuana access, anti-gerrymandering, public school funding, environmental issues, etc. Yet the exact same populace allows Republicans to dominate our legislature, and then wonders why the things they voted for don’t come to fruition. It’s not enough to pass abortion legislation protecting women’s health care if the people left in charge are hellbent against it.
Disingenuous legislators will always pass laws to circumvent what they don’t want, and governors will appoint judges to weaken it in the courts. The hard reality is that the GOP no longer believes in democracy, and many Republicans are openly calling for authoritarianism. It is long past time we gave Republican lawmakers the benefit of the doubt to administer the will of the people in good faith. They need to be out of power. The sooner, the better.
RELATED STORY: Democratic push to get more abortion measures on state ballots in 2024 is a smart, righteous play
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