LWV provides ballot language
Following their mission of voter education, the Tuscarawas League of Women Voters is providing the actual ballot language for the proposed Reproductive Rights Amendment. This language will appear on the ballot in the November election:
Issue 1
A Self-Executing Amendment Relating to Abortion and Other Reproductive Decisions
Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Proposed by Initiative Petition
To enact Section 22 of Article I of the Constitution of the State of Ohio
A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass.
The proposed amendment would:
-Establish in the Constitution of the State of Ohio an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
-Create legal protections for any person or entity that assists a person with receiving reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
-Prohibit the citizens of the State of Ohio from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing, or prohibiting abortion before an unborn child is determined to be viable, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means;
-Grant a pregnant woman’s treating physician the authority to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether an unborn child is viable;
-Only allow the citizens of the State of Ohio to prohibit an abortion after an unborn child is determined by a pregnant woman’s treating physician to be viable and only if the physician does not consider the abortion necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health; and
-Always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination, the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health.
If passed, the amendment will become effective 30 days after the election.
Voters should also be aware the ballot language for Issue 1 is not the actual constitutional amendment that will be added to the state constitution if Issue 1 is approved, but rather a summary of it created by the office of Secretary of State Frank LaRose and approved by the Ohio Ballot Board. Voters are encouraged to go to readtheamendment.com to read the full text of the amendment.
The league would also like to remind voters to check their voter registration at voteohio.gov before Oct. 10 to ensure they are eligible to vote in the November election. Early voting starts Oct. 11.
To learn more about the League of Women Voters of Tuscarawas County, visit lwvtusc.org or search for League of Women Voters - Tuscarawas County OH on Facebook.