Since the Dobbs decision, and as advocates for reproductive freedom have sought to use the ballot measure process to protect their rights in more states, legislatures in red states are fired up to strip voters of their right to direct democracy. We saw it in Ohio, and we will no doubt see it again.
According to a recent report by the nonpartisan Fairness Project, Ohio and five other states where Republicans control the legislature — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and North Dakota — have either passed, attempted to pass or are currently working to pass expanded supermajority requirements for voters to approve statewide ballot measures.
Progressives are already worried about Issue-1 style restrictions: “Legislators in Arizona will try to make the process harder," says Hannah Ledford, deputy executive director and campaigns director at The Fairness Project, a left-leaning advocacy group. "No question.”
"The 111-year-old process tried and true in Ohio will continue to be the process for this core issue that opponents of abortion have said they wanted returned to the states, and now this decision is going to be made by the state of Ohio and the voters of Ohio come November," Kelly Hall, executive director of The Fairness Project, told CBS News.
“I wish we could call it an absolute one to one proxy, but I think that this is a pretty encouraging and positive sign for everyone paying attention to the November race,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the progressive ballot measure group Fairness Project.
Last night, voters in Ohio decisively rejected a proposal from right-wing politicians and special interests to end majority rule in Ohio and preemptively block a constitutional amendment to defend reproductive rights.
"When faced with the choice of whether to allow politicians and special interests to consolidate power and strip voters of their rights, Ohioans fought back,” Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, a group that campaigns for progressive ballot initiatives, said in a statement.
Kelly Hall, the executive director of the progressive ballot measure group Fairness Project, hailed the victory as an “incredibly profound and inspiring day for our democracy.” She said her national organization looks forward “to an aggressive campaign in the coming months” to protect Ohio abortion rights in November.
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