As Ohio voters prepare to decide on sweeping changes to the state’s abortion laws, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has unusually jumped into the debate with both feet.
DeWine explained to Fox News Digital in an interview this week why a November vote to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution motivated him to run his first ad on a state ballot measure and why he believes the proposal is inconsistent. with what the majority Ohio voters want.
“Fran and I have never made an announcement before on a state or even local issue, but we both feel very strongly about this and I believe that whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, the constitutional amendment we will vote on in a couple of weeks goes too far,” DeWine told Fox News Digital at the governor’s mansion in Columbus, Ohio, following an ad he ran with the First Lady of Ohio urging her constituents to vote “No” on the issue. 1, a November issue. Constitutional amendment on abortion.
“It would allow abortion at any time during pregnancy,” DeWine said. “It would negate the Ohio law that we have had in place for many, many years that prohibits partial-birth abortion.”
The future of partial birth and late-term abortion in Ohio has become a prominent issue among Issue 1 opponents, including Protect Women Ohio, which has noted a $100,000 contribution from Dr. Martin Haskell, a Dayton-area doctor whom they describe as “the inventor of the partial-birth abortion procedure,” formulated in support of the constitutional amendment.
“It also really attacks parental rights and the relationship between a father and, in this case, a daughter,” DeWine said.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine ran an ad urging residents to vote against an abortion amendment to the state constitution. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
“We have a law that says it is necessary to have parental consent for a minor to undergo an abortion, something that would also be nullified by this constitutional amendment. Therefore, it would place Ohio in a small category of the most permissive states in the union regarding abortion. I just don’t think it fits Ohio. It’s not who we are. “It’s not where we are.”
DeWine told Fox News Digital that groups supporting a “Yes” vote on No. 1 have run misleading ads about what the amendment would do.
“I think the people who make these ads that are for number one are misleading people,” DeWine said.
One ad talked about the amendment guaranteeing help for miscarriages, DeWine said, but that’s not a problem. “There is medical assistance. I mean, we have hospitals. They do what they do, doctors. So they’re wrapping this around things that are certainly already well served by the medical community, our hospitals and our doctors. So, you know, I think it’s a very deceptive campaign that they’re running.“
DeWine said he doesn’t believe Ohio has ever repealed a constitutional amendment that was approved by the people, meaning that if this amendment passes it will likely be permanent.
DeWine explained that even under Roe v. Wade, Ohio was allowed to implement some restrictions on abortion and that this amendment would go even further and invalidate those measures.
Even Roe, and another precedent-setting Supreme Court case on abortion, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, “they allowed Ohio and other states to put up some barriers around abortion,” DeWine said. “Parent notification was one of them. Another law that we have regarding someone with a disability, a child with a disability. It could not be aborted specifically because that child had Down syndrome. You know, these are barriers…they would just go away because this is a constitutional amendment.”
Signs for and against Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot in November. AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth
Many political experts have concluded that abortion and the reversal of Roe v. Wade were an issue that hurt Republicans in last year’s midterm elections, preventing them from achieving a “Red Wave” result that would give them dominant control in Congress.
However, all of the US governors who enacted abortion restrictions won re-election last November in states such as Iowa, Idaho, Florida, South Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wyoming, Georgia and even Ohio.
DeWine signed a heartbeat law banning abortions after 6 weeks and won a landslide re-election victory by 25 points.
When asked by Fox News Digital how DeWine was able to effectively communicate the issue of abortion, he said he had “tried to focus on the science.”
A man with a sign at a pro-life rally in Columbus at the Ohio State House on Oct. 6, 2023. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
“Even if there are people who are pro-choice and think abortion should be allowed at some point up to a point, I don’t know anyone who thinks abortion should be allowed up to birth,” DeWine said. “I mean, to most people it seems like it goes too far… I think part of my job is to try, and what Fran and I, my wife and I were trying to do with this ad, is just that people know exactly how radical this is. the constitutional amendment is.”
DeWine said most voters he has interacted with don’t want to talk about abortion because it is an “unpleasant topic,” which is why he filmed the ad from his kitchen to speak directly to Ohio voters and let them know that, wherever they are, As for the issue of abortion, this measure is too “radical” to be enshrined in the state constitution.
When asked what he would say to an Ohioan who is undecided about how to vote on Issue 1, the governor said voters “don’t have to take my word for it” but just need to “look at the language of the amendment.” constitutional and Look how courts have defined things in the past.”
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost conducted a comprehensive analysis of what it would mean to vote “Yes” on the first issue and pass the amendment for abortions in the state, writing that the amendment’s language “creates a new legal standard that “It goes beyond what Roe and Casey said.”
A pro-choice rally in support of the amendment in Columbus on Oct. 8, 2023. AP Photo/Joe Maiorana, File
“The Amendment would not return things to the way they were before Dobbs overturned Roe, and it is not simply about ‘restoring Roe,’” Yost said. “This goes further.”
Yost wrote that several abortion restrictions in the state would be invalidated if the new amendment passes, including the Heartbeat Act, the Down syndrome discrimination law and the law banning partial-birth abortion.
Additionally, Yost concludes that other aspects of abortion may not be immediately invalidated, but will face serious legal challenges with an “uncertain outcome” in the courts due to the bill’s language.
Those issues include a 24-hour waiting period and informed consent, Ohio law requiring a doctor to inform a minor’s parents before performing an abortion on a pregnant minor, abortion pill safety standards and limits to taxpayer funds for abortion providers.
Supporters of Issue 1, including Ohio Citizen Action, have argued that voters “face a critical choice in defending our personal autonomy” and that “personal decisions should be made by individuals and their families, free from intrusive government oversight.” ”. .”
People gathered in front of the Ohio State House for a March for Life rally. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
“It’s pretty clear that this constitutional amendment goes further, far beyond what the average Ohioan approves of,” DeWine told Fox News Digital.
“If a voter is comfortable with abortion up to the moment of birth, they will probably agree with this amendment, if they are comfortable with parents not participating in the most important decision their daughter will or will certainly make. done up to that point in her life. “If they agree with that, then they should vote for it,” DeWine added.
“If you believe that parents should be involved and your daughter or anyone’s daughter needs parents to be involved, and you believe that abortion should not be allowed until the moment of birth, then this constitutional amendment is not correct and people should vote on it. against.“
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report
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