Backers blast approved ballot language for Ohio's fall abortion amendment as misleading

Earlier DU threads:
• Ohio's Ballot Board adopts controversial language for the proposed abortion amendment
• Abortion amendment backers threaten lawsuit over ballot language they say amounts to propaganda
• Ohio Republicans change mentions of 'fetus' in proposed abortion amendment to 'unborn child'

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Source: Associated Press

Backers blast approved ballot language for Ohio’s fall abortion amendment as misleading

BY JULIE CARR SMYTH
Updated 6:53 PM EDT, August 24, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Ballot Board approved language Thursday for a fall measure seeking to establish abortion access as a fundamental right, but one Democratic member blasted it as “rife with misleading and defective language.”

Key among opponents’ objections is language developed by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, an abortion opponent, amid warnings the language could face a legal challenge even before the proposal goes before Ohio voters in November.

Among the new language, the word “fetus” in the Democrats’ proposal was changed to “unborn child” in the ballot measure.

The original summary language seeks to assure access to abortion through what is called viability, when the fetus is able to survive outside the womb. It stated, “abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability,” but not in cases where a treating physician deems the procedure necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

LaRose’s summary turned that section on its head. It now says the amendment would “always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination” the life and health exception applies.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-access-ballot-issue-election-2023-a628e9b323b8544847ace0a0504c5733