In anticipation that Roe v Wade will be overturned, four state lawmakers have announced they want to amend the state constitution to protect the unconstitutional right. That would require three-fifths of the votes in the Senate and in the House where Democrats are in the minority.
“I'm really not sure how far they think this plan is going to go,” Elizabeth Whitmarsh, of Ohio Right to Life, says, “but the truth is we are a pro-life state.”
Gov. Mike DeWine signed a fetal heartbeat law in 2019, and pro-life legislators have introduced bills that would ban abortions in the state if Roe is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court via the Dobbs case.
The lawmakers who are demanding the constitutional change are Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, Rep. Jessica E. Miranda, Sen. Nickie Antonio, and Sen. Sandra Williams.
“No one should be forced to carry a pregnancy against their will," Rep. Lepore-Hagan said in a statement. "I am standing up for Ohioans who deserve all the safety and benefits that come with access to birth control and legal abortions.”
“We uphold the sanctity of life here. We are for the protection of the unborn,” Whitmarsh counters. “So I really don't think that it's going to go too far, but it shows the links that they're willing to go to hold on to their sacred cow of abortion.”
