Amendments should take broad citizen consensus
Letter to the Editor,
Seeing all the “vote no on issue 1” signs around the county tells me many have been deceived into thinking that is a “way to save the Ohio Constitution.” Wrong.
First, the Aug. 8 special election is for the purpose of raising the needed votes from 50+1 to 60% to add a permanent amendment to Ohio’s Constitution and would require signatures from all 88 counties instead of the current 44.
Why does that matter? So out-of-state special interests cannot easily change Ohio’s Constitution. Amendments bypass the Constitution itself, the governor, the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Assembly.
Why a special election now? Because Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have obtained enough signatures in Ohio to put the Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety Amendment on our November ballot. They have funneled over $100 million into Ohio hoping to ensure easy passage of the November amendment to change our State Constitution.
While the U.S. Constitution has been amended only 27 times, Ohio’s Constitution has been amended 174 times. Most states have a 60% requirement, and 32 states do not allow Constitutional amendments at all from citizen-initiated petitions. There should always be a broad consensus of citizens to amend any Constitution, not a slim majority.
Second, just what is on the November amendment? Despite its vague and manipulative language, this amendment would allow abortion up to birth so that fully formed, viable babies who can feel pain just like you can be dismembered and aborted; allow rapists, traffickers and abusers to take victims for abortions your tax dollars pay for; and require no parental notification or consent for their child to obtain an abortion and even a sex-change surgery.
If you care about Ohio, protections, and safety for families, parents, women, children and babies, then you must vote yes on Aug. 8 and no in November.
Also, note the hypocrisy of the special interest groups standing in opposition to Issue 1. Many have similar or even larger than 60% vote requirements to amend their own bylaws: Democratic Party of Ohio requires 60% of its delegates vote in favor of any changes to the organization’s constitution. ACLU requires a 60% vote to remove an officer or board member and a 66% vote for the board to overturn an action by the executive committee. Planned Parenthood requires a vote of two thirds (66%) to amend its own bylaws. For NAACP a two-thirds (66%) vote is required to amend bylaws of local chapters. For Ohio Education Association, multiple teachers’ unions in Ohio require a three-fourths (75%) vote to amend their constitution. Different rules for themselves than the rest of Ohio.
Jo Wucinick
Millersburg