Abortion-Keep Legal, Yes or No?

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  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698

     

    What Ohio’s proposed abortion amendment really does: Dan Kobil

    • Published: Oct. 04, 2023, 5:17 a.m.
    Ohi Ohio Supreme Court heartbeat

    Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers addresses the Ohio Supreme Court Sept. 27 in a case challenging the temporary stay on Ohio's fetal "heartbeat" abortion law. On the bench, from left: Justices Jennifer Brunner, Michael Donnelly, Patrick Fisher, Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, and Justices Patrick DeWine and Melody Stewart. Judge Matthew Byrne of the 12th Ohio District Court of Appeals is sitting in, far right, for Justice Joe Deters, who recused himself.

    COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, it said that each state should decide the scope of abortion rights. This November, Ohio will vote on exactly that: whether to amend our constitution to restore the reproductive freedoms that the court took away in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

    Following Dobbs, Ohio implemented one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws. It now bans all abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in the fetus — as early as six weeks. This is well before many women even know they are pregnant.

    Ohio’s radical prohibition also contains no exceptions for rape or incest. Prior to being temporarily stayed by an Ohio court, these restrictions forced a 10-year-old girl who had been raped to travel to Indiana to terminate her pregnancy so that she was not forced to bear the rapist’s child.

    Confronted by a legislature impervious to the hardships imposed on women, the proposed amendment seeks to restore all of the rights cast into doubt when the high court overturned Roe. Dobbs undercut not just a right to abortion, but it also questioned the freedom to obtain contraception, to resist compelled sterilization, and even to engage in consensual sexual activity.

    continues....

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  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698

      

    Ohio Democratic-stronghold counties exceeding early voting expectations for November election

    By: Morgan Trau - October 27, 2023 4:40 am

    File photo of early voters at the Franklin County Board of Elections. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)

    Voters in Democratic-stronghold counties are showing up in mass to vote early for the November election on abortion and marijuana, exceeding the already unexpectedly large turnout from the August special election.

    “For these things that are on the ballot right now, which are very important, I just wanted to make sure my vote is in and counted,” voter Ellen Rosenblatt said.

    Rosenblatt wanted to decide if abortion and recreational marijuana should be legal. She is one of the tens of thousands of early voters in Cuyahoga County.

    Mike West, with the county board of elections, is excited that so many people are interested and showing up for this election.

    “We’re gonna have a pretty healthy turnout for this election,” he said.

    The best way to compare this typically-municipal-year election is with the recent special election on August 8.

    Analysis

    Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau reached out to a dozen counties with different political leanings all across the state. She got data and calculated from the 11th day of early voting — which Ohio has data for now. This means that the data comes up to July 25 for the August election and Oct. 25 for the November election.

    The reason they are both the 25th is due to the fact that November voters lost a day due to the federal holiday, so a day was removed from July.

    Cuyahoga County is seeing about the same for in-person ballots cast but has a large increase in absentee ballots.

    “We are way ahead, by around 10,000 vote-by-mail ballot applications,” West said.


    continues.....


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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • OnWis97OnWis97 St. Paul, MN Posts: 4,709
    I love to see unpopular opinions like abortion (and gay marriage about 15 years ago) bring the opposition to the polls.
    1995 Milwaukee     1998 Alpine, Alpine     2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston     2004 Boston, Boston     2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty)     2011 Alpine, Alpine     
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  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    OnWis97 said:
    I love to see unpopular opinions like abortion (and gay marriage about 15 years ago) bring the opposition to the polls.

    we smacked down an effort to raise the threshhold for amending our state constitution by a wide margin in the August special election after the gop here outlawed special elections last dec or jan... was still a lot of room for participation too.
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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • cblock4lifecblock4life Posts: 1,367
    mickeyrat said:

      

    Ohio Democratic-stronghold counties exceeding early voting expectations for November election

    By: Morgan Trau - October 27, 2023 4:40 am

    File photo of early voters at the Franklin County Board of Elections. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)

    Voters in Democratic-stronghold counties are showing up in mass to vote early for the November election on abortion and marijuana, exceeding the already unexpectedly large turnout from the August special election.

    “For these things that are on the ballot right now, which are very important, I just wanted to make sure my vote is in and counted,” voter Ellen Rosenblatt said.

    Rosenblatt wanted to decide if abortion and recreational marijuana should be legal. She is one of the tens of thousands of early voters in Cuyahoga County.

    Mike West, with the county board of elections, is excited that so many people are interested and showing up for this election.

    “We’re gonna have a pretty healthy turnout for this election,” he said.

    The best way to compare this typically-municipal-year election is with the recent special election on August 8.

    Analysis

    Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau reached out to a dozen counties with different political leanings all across the state. She got data and calculated from the 11th day of early voting — which Ohio has data for now. This means that the data comes up to July 25 for the August election and Oct. 25 for the November election.

    The reason they are both the 25th is due to the fact that November voters lost a day due to the federal holiday, so a day was removed from July.

    Cuyahoga County is seeing about the same for in-person ballots cast but has a large increase in absentee ballots.

    “We are way ahead, by around 10,000 vote-by-mail ballot applications,” West said.


    continues.....


    There’s still much to be hopeful about.  
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    VOTED!!!

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    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-amendment-election-2023-fe3e06747b616507d8ca21ea26485270   Ohio voters enshrine abortion access in constitution in latest statewide win for reproductive rights

     
    Ohio voters enshrine abortion access in constitution in latest statewide win for reproductive rights
    By JULIE CARR SMYTH
    1 minute ago

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that ensures access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, the latest victory for abortion rights supporters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

    Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access after the landmark ruling and was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year.

    The outcome of the intense, off-year election could be a bellwether for 2024, when Democrats hope the issue will energize their voters and help President Joe Biden keep the White House. Voters in ArizonaMissouri and elsewhere are expected to vote on similar protections next year.

    Ohio’s constitutional amendment, on the ballot as Issue 1, included some of the most protective language for abortion access of any statewide ballot initiative since the Supreme Court’s ruling. Opponents had argued that the amendment would threaten parental rights, allow unrestricted gender surgeries for minors and revive “partial birth” abortions, which are federally banned.

    Public polling shows about two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal in the earliest stages of pregnancy, a sentiment that has been underscored in both Democratic and deeply Republican states since the justices overturned Roe in June 2022.

    Before the Ohio vote, statewide initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont had either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine the right.

    Voter turnout for Ohio’s constitutional amendment, including early voting, was robust for an off-year election. Issue 1’s approval will all but certainly undo a 2019 state law passed by Republicans that bans most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, with no exceptions for rape and incest. That law, currently on hold because of court challenges, is one of roughly two dozen restrictions on abortion the Ohio Legislature has passed in recent years.

    Issue 1 specifically declared an individual’s right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including birth control, fertility treatments, miscarriage and abortion.

    It allowed the state to regulate the procedure after fetal viability, as long as exceptions were provided for cases in which a doctor determined the “life or health” of the woman was at risk. Viability was defined as the point when the fetus had “a significant likelihood of survival” outside the womb, with reasonable interventions.

    Anti-abortion groups, with the help of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, tested a variety of messages to try to defeat the amendment, primarily focusing on the idea that the proposal was too extreme for the state. The supporters’ campaign centered on a message of keeping government out of families’ private affairs.

    The latest vote followed an August special election called by the Republican-controlled Legislature that was aimed at making future constitutional changes harder to pass by increasing the threshold from a simple majority vote to 60%. That proposal was aimed in part at undermining the abortion-rights measure decided Tuesday.

    Voters overwhelmingly defeated that special election question, setting the stage for the high-stakes fall abortion campaign.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Samantha Hendrickson in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, contributed to this report.


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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    will put this here as it pertains to reproductive health care

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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    edited November 10
    Post edited by mickeyrat on
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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698

     
    Attorney General who opposed Issue 1 will likely argue in court it erases six-week abortion ban The Statehouse News Bureau | By Karen Kasler
    Published November 17, 2023 at 3:29 PM EST
    Attorney General Dave Yost speaking at a get out the vote event at Ohio Republican Party headquarters on Oct 7 2023 the weekend before early voting began for the Nov 7 election on a constitutional amendment on abortion access and reproductive rights
    Karen Kasler
    /
    Statehouse News Bureau
    Attorney General Dave Yost speaking at a "get out the vote" event at Ohio Republican Party headquarters on Oct. 7, 2023, the weekend before early voting began for the Nov. 7 election on a constitutional amendment on abortion access and reproductive rights.

    The Ohio Supreme Court is asking the parties involved in a lawsuit over Ohio’s law banning abortion after six weeks to submit arguments on what effect, if any, the abortion and reproductive rights amendment approved in Issue 1 has on that case. And it’s looking like the attorney for the state is going to have to make an argument he said he personally disagrees with.  

    Attorney General Dave Yost hasn’t filed those arguments yet, but said this to a group at Ohio Republican Party headquarters just before early voting started.

    "Somebody actually said this – "I’m not really worried about Issue 1 because we’ll still have the ‘heartbeat bill’." No, we won’t," he told the GOP volunteers.

    That goes along with his office’s legal analysis of Issue 1. That analysis said approval of Issue 1 would invalidate the six-week ban. That ban does not include any exceptions for rape or incest.

    The analysis, ordered by Yost and written by attorneys and staff, detailed some of the laws that would be affected if Issue 1 is approved. Of the so-called "Heartbeat Act", the analysis said: “Some of Ohio’s laws may be defensible, but the Heartbeat Act would not exist if Issue 1 passes. Ohio would no longer have the ability to limit abortions at any time before a fetus is viable. Viability is generally thought to be around 21 or 22 weeks. Passage of Issue 1 would invalidate the Heartbeat Act, which restricts abortions (with health and other exceptions) after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually at about six weeks. No other pre-viability limit would be allowed.”

    Yost’s office said in an email: “We have been ordered to brief these questions, and will do so. We will speak through the brief.” The office also pointed to language in the legal analysis on Issue 1 regarding the six-week ban.

    Yost also posted on social media this week: “Having thoroughly scoured the Constitution, I find no exception for matters in which the outcome of an election is contrary to the preferences of those in power.”

    The amendment approved by 57% of voters guarantees abortion access, but says it can be prohibited after fetal viability.

    Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis also said Issue 1 will mean the six-week ban is unconstitutional: “I believe, yes, it will, because the Constitution trumps state law.”

    And in that interview for "The State of Ohio", Gonidakis also said he believes the current ban on abortion after viability, the so-called "Pain Capable" Act which he helped draft in 2016, will stand—and he said he thinks that's what voters want.

    "I think we can find some common ground, and I believe it would be our 20-week ban," Gonidakis said. "Our mission is to protect life from conception to natural death. But if that's what we can live with presently, and we'll have to continue to change hearts and minds."

    Nearly all abortions happen before 20 weeks. The 2022 Ohio Abortion Report shows 89% of abortions were conducted before the 13th week of pregnancy. Only 0.6% of abortions were performed between 21 and 24 weeks, and there were none after that point.

    "I firmly believe if we would have stopped at the 'Pain Capable' law, we would we would have been successful last week," Gonidakis said.

    Contact Karen at 614-578-6375 or at kka[email protected].
    Related Content
    © 2023 The Statehouse News Bureau
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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 33,698
    https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-constitutional-amendment-republicans-courts-fb1762537585350caeee589d68fe5a0d   Ohio voters just passed abortion protections. Whether they take effect is now up to the courts
     
    Ohio voters just passed abortion protections. Whether they take effect is now up to the courts
    By JULIE CARR SMYTH
    Today

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s new constitutional projections for abortion access and other reproductive rights are supposed to take effect Dec. 7, a month after voters resoundingly passed them. That prospect seems increasingly uncertain.

    Existing abortion-related lawsuits are moving again through the courts now that voters have decided the issue, raising questions about how and when the amendment will be implemented.

    The amendment declared an individual’s right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” and passed with a strong 57% majority. It was the seventh straight victory in statewide votes for supporters of abortion access nationally since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned constitutional protections.

    But the amendment did not repeal any existing Ohio laws, providing an opening for Republican elected officials and anti-abortion groups to renew their efforts to halt, delay or significantly water it down.

    “A lot of that hard work of figuring out what state laws are inconsistent with the amendment and what state laws can remain, does tend to devolve to the courts,” said Laura Hermer, a professor of law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, who studies access to health coverage and care in the U.S. "It’s difficult to imagine that the Legislature will say, ‘All right, you win. We’re going to repeal the heartbeat ban' and so forth.”

    The state Legislature is controlled by Republicans whose leaders opposed the November ballot amendment, which was known as Issue 1. The Ohio Supreme Court also is controlled by Republicans, who have a 4-3 majority, and will be the final judge of constitutional questions. Several of the Republican justices have taken actions or made statements that have caused abortion rights organizations and ethics attorneys to question their objectivity on the subject.

    Minority Democrats in the Ohio House announced legislation two days after the election aimed at avoiding a piecemeal approach to implementing the amendment. Among other steps, they called for repealing the state’s ban on most abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is around six weeks, and a 24-hour waiting period.

    “There are over 30 different restrictions in place," said state Rep. Beth Liston, a physician and co-author of the Reproductive Care Act. "And I think that it is important that we don't require citizens to go to court for every restriction, and, quite frankly, that we don't let harm occur in the interim.”

    House Minority Leader Allison Russo was careful not to criticize the high court, which holds sway over the fate of those laws.

    “My hope is they will uphold the rule of law and the constitution,” she said.

    Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy last week ordered lawyers for the state and a group of abortion clinics to tell the court how they believe the measure’s passage has affected a case involving Ohio’s ban on most abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which has been on hold since October 2022.

    A day after voters approved the amendment, U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett made a similar request of the parties in a long-running federal lawsuit challenging a set of state restrictions imposed on abortion providers’ operations. They included a requirement that clinics obtain agreements with a nearby hospital for emergency patient transfers, as well as a prohibition against public hospitals entering into those agreements.

    At least three other Ohio abortion laws also have been on hold in the courts.

    Passing legislation to bring Ohio law in line with the new constitutional amendment has been a non-starter with Republican lawmakers, who mostly opposed it and took extraordinary steps to defeat it.

    With a primary election in their GOP-heavy districts only months away, they are facing fierce pressure from anti-abortion groups to go in the other direction and either pass laws countering the amendment or using their supermajorities to strip courts of their power to interpret it.

    “The (Ohio) Constitution specifically says reigning in out-of-control courts is the legislators' job," the anti-abortion group Faith2Action argues in a recently released video. “So let's call on the legislators to do their job, to use their constitutionally granted right to represent us and to keep pro-abortion judges from repealing Ohio laws based on an amendment that doesn't even mention a single Ohio law.”

    The video argues that the “right to life” created in Ohio's constitution is inalienable and that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade punted the abortion issue to “the people's elected representatives.”

    But in his concurring opinion in that ruling, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote that constitutional amendments were among the avenues for deciding the future of abortion access.

    “Moreover, the Constitution authorizes the creation of new rights — state and federal, statutory and constitutional," Kavanaugh wrote. "But when it comes to creating new rights, the Constitution directs the people to the various processes of democratic self-government contemplated by the Constitution — state legislation, state constitutional amendments, federal legislation, and federal constitutional amendments.”

    For now, Republican Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens has said legislation targeting the power of state courts will not be considered. GOP Senate President Matt Huffman has ruled out lawmakers pushing for an immediate repeal of Issue 1, as had once been suggested, saying nothing like that should be tried, at least in 2024.

    How Attorney General Dave Yost will proceed also is being closely watched.

    In a legal analysis of Issue 1 that the Republican published before the election, Yost said the amendment created a new standard for protecting abortion access that “goes beyond” the law of the land under Roe v. Wade.

    “That means that many Ohio laws would probably be invalidated ... and others might be at risk to varying degrees,” he wrote.

    Hermer, the law professor, said that statement is convenient for lawyers fighting to implement the constitutional amendment but such an analysis isn't legally binding for Yost.

    “He doesn’t necessarily have to stand down, but, of course, having already said that, it’s going to make it a bit more difficult to hold those sorts of positions,” she said.


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    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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