Ahead of Ohio abortion vote, Republicans try to change the rules NPR
A pro-choice referendum looked poised to win in the conservative state of Ohio this November. Now, Republican state legislators are accused of moving the goalposts.
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The fight in question is over Issue 1, a deceivingly dull and procedural-sounding referendum on the minimum threshold required to pass constitutional amendments.
The premise is simple: voters will decide on 8 August whether that threshold should remain at 50% plus one, or be raised to 60%.
But Ohio's vote has become a proxy war over abortion, one of the many state-wide battles that have broken out since the US Supreme Court rescinded the nationwide right to abortion last June.
That's because Issue 1 is not the only referendum looming. In November, Ohioans will vote on another constitutional amendment, one that would protect abortion access up until foetal viability, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The proponents of issue 1 claim that Tuesday's vote is simply to protect the state's constitution from outside influence.
But its opponents - a diverse coalition featuring political wonks like Mr Curtin, a retired Supreme Court judge and all of Ohio's past living governors - have called foul. They claim Issue 1 is a backhanded attempt to change the rules mid-game, raising the voter threshold just in time to thwart the abortion vote.
"Look, everybody knows what's going on here. Everybody knows," Mr Curtin said. "This was just bad faith."
Since Roe v Wade was overturned last June, the country's abortion fight has increasingly played out in state ballot initiatives. There have been six so far, each one a win for abortion rights.
If Ohio's vote is passed, it will be the most sweeping affirmation of reproductive rights in a state controlled by a firm Republican majority, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and a leading authority on the US abortion debate. "It will confirm that there's some sort of consensus around abortion rights, even in conservative states."
And according to recent surveys, if all Ohioans were to show up for the vote now, abortion would win. The constitutional amendment is supported by 58% of Ohioans, with 32% opposed,
according to a July poll from USA Today and Suffolk University.
But if Issue 1 is passed first, and the threshold is raised to 60%, the abortion rights amendment may be finished.
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